Flooding the short end
of the yield curve with liquidity has overwhelmed those seeking permanent liquidity cheaply, by offering large amounts of temporary liquidity cheaply, and saying that the program could become a regular part of the Fed's policy tools.
The Fed is flooding the short end
of the yield curve with liquidity for now, until inflaton pressures become intolerable.
FRA: Given the potential in Europe for being the epicentre of perhaps the next financial crisis as Peter Boockvar mentions, could we see international capital flows come from Europe and elsewhere to the U.S. markets especially as you mentioned there could be pressure on the long end
of the yield curve with the movement into equities.
And I think you had that back then, and that was a period where you sustained that kind
of yield curve with a healthy economy.
Not exact matches
«
With our forecast projecting output growth to slow below potential in 2020, the inversion
of the
yield curve would be a meaningful signal regarding the specter
of a looming recession.»
Bonds due in 2018 and won by BofA were «aggressively» priced
with a 1.64 percent
yield that narrowed Illinois» spread over Municipal Market Data's benchmark triple - A
yield curve to 70 basis points from 100 basis points ahead
of the sale, Greg Saulnier, a MMD analyst, said.
Smaller - than - expected announcements
of the German current account and trade balance were associated
with rising
yields at both ends
of the
yield curve.
One
of the best economic indicators, the
yield curve or the spread between short and long - term bonds remains in positive territory,
with the long - term much higher than the short.
Earnings momentum coupled
with deregulation,
yield curve steepening, and the potential support
of the value factor.
The RBA uses the operating technique which has come universal in countries
with deregulated financial markets: the Bank can influence liquidity in the payments clearing system, and is allows us to shift interest rates at the very short end
of the
yield curve.
And QE is surely already hitting diminishing returns
with the
yield curve flattening and markets functioning without the illiquidity premia
of the early recovery period.
For example, it is often useful to view the short - end
of the
yield curve as being primarily influenced by growth,
with the long - end mostly reflecting inflation expectations.
The shape
of the
yield curve continues to imply a further «parallel shift» upward,
with yields rising at all maturities.
Gross also observed that «Economists / investment managers are aware
of the potency
of a flattening
yield curve (shown in Chart above)... Only [former Fed Chair] Volcker,
with his need to strangle inflation out
of the system, persisted into negative
yield curve territory for longer than a few months.»
Negative Feedback Loops «The steepness
of the
yield curve holds a long - standing correlation
with currency weakness,» a report by Bank
of America Merrill Lynch global research says.
While shortening duration can help mitigate interest rate risk, another approach to consider is one that balances exposure to the very front end
of the
curve with exposure to intermediate maturities for additional
yield potential and lower volatility, given that rates are likely to rise slowly and stay historically low for the foreseeable future.
With the exception
of the very front end
of the
yield curve, Canadian government bond
yields declined, as did spreads on investment grade corporate bonds.
As usual, I don't place too much emphasis on this sort
of forecast, but to the extent that I make any comments at all about the outlook for 2006, the bottom line is this: 1) we can't rule out modest potential for stock appreciation, which would require the maintenance or expansion
of already high price / peak earnings multiples; 2) we also should recognize an uncomfortably large potential for market losses, particularly given that the current bull market has now outlived the median and average bull, yet at higher valuations than most bulls have achieved, a flat
yield curve with rising interest rate pressures, an extended period
of internal divergence as measured by breadth and other market action, and complacency at best and excessive bullishness at worst, as measured by various sentiment indicators; 3) there is a moderate but still not compelling risk
of an oncoming recession, which would become more
of a factor if we observe a substantial widening
of credit spreads and weakness in the ISM Purchasing Managers Index in the months ahead, and; 4) there remains substantial potential for U.S. dollar weakness coupled
with «unexpectedly» persistent inflation pressures, particularly if we do observe economic weakness.
The recent flattening
of the
yield curves in the U.S. has precipitated discussion that the FED is moving too fast in raising rates
with the market action predicting an impending recession.
The shape
of the
yield curve changes in accordance
with the state
of the economy.
Although downward sloping
yield curves have dominated the landscape in Australia in the deregulated era, positive sloped
yield curves have been the norm in a number
of other countries, particularly those
with relatively low inflation (see table).
Prior to each
of the last seven recessions (shaded bars on chart), the
yield curve was inverted
with short - term rates higher than longer - term rates.
The fall in bond
yields over the past year, combined
with an unchanged target cash rate, has seen a flattening
of the
yield curve.
If there are misfinanced (too much short - term borrowing) or over-indebted areas
of the economy, there can be considerable economic failure
with a flat or inverted
yield curve.
To some degree, I think one can almost look at Poland as a structure
of a
yield curve that would be what the European
yield curve might look like if the ECB weren't buying quite as many bonds and
with emergency interest rates.
Though the US
yield curve remained some way from inversion — which historically is often cited as signaling an impending recession — investors were relatively sanguine about the significance
of its flattening,
with many arguing that low long - term
yields were more reflective
of central - bank policies and the weak inflationary environment than dimmer economic prospects.
My summary advice for the FOMC would be this: before you flatten / invert the
yield curve, start selling all
of the long MBS and Treasury bonds
with average maturities longer than 10 years.
The shape
of the
yield curve has changed markedly since early February,
with the
curve now inverted.
As a consequence
of these concerns the Bank
of Japan introduced in September 2016 QQE
with yield curve control (view post here).
Unfortunately market rates — especially at the short end
of the
yield curve — are subject to an observer - participant feedback loop
with the Fed, so the dilemma can not be entirely avoided.
With a normal
yield curve, bond buyers essentially demand a higher rate
of interest in order to lend money for 30 years than they will to loan money for 30 days since they will be locking up their money for a longer period
of time.
The disappearance
of low - risk
yield opportunities in fixed income markets has subsequently forced investors out the risk
curve and into traditionally defensive equity sectors
with reasonable payouts.
As the Fed's stimulus program appears to have «peaked» Citi warned investors yesterday to be cautious
with the Equity markets; and recent price action across the Treasury
curve suggests lower
yields can be seen and US 10 year
yields are in danger
of retesting the 2.40 % area.
As the
yield curve has flattened considerably, a lack
of yield compensation on longer dated bonds warrants caution for investors
with very interest rate - sensitive portfolios.
In fact, one observational system
of which I am aware (i.e., the TAP System for Teacher and Student Advancement) is marketing its proprietary system, using as a primary selling point figures illustrating (
with text explaining) how clients who use their system will improve their prior «Widget Effect» results (i.e.,
yielding such normal
curves; see Figure below, as per Jerald & Van Hook, 2011, p. 1).
But by overweighting highly cyclical companies
with the global
yield curve already so flat, investors must believe that the
yield curve has lost all
of its ability to signal slower growth ahead.
Here we can see what happened
with the steepness
of the
yield curve and the Fed Funds rate during the last rate hikes in 2004 - 2006:
With the note against bond spread (NOB), the position a futures trader will take depends upon their perception
of the
yield curve.
When the
yield curve looks like this,
with short - term rates about the same as long - term rates, it's generally a signal that there's a lot
of uncertainty about the outlook for the economy, interest rates, and inflation.
I do know that the FOMC has only 1 %
of tightening to play
with before the
yield curve gets flat.
That is probably a bad assumption in this case, after all, the proportion
of Treasury issues out past 20 years is a small minority
of Treasury issuance, and even
with existing demand, the
yield curve is quite steep.
What this means is that there are intrinsic levels
of risk affecting the
yields on high quality corporate debt, lessening the positive slope
of their spread
curves, or
with agencies inverting the spread
curves.
The
yield curve is basically just a line that plots the
yield of US treasury bonds (TLT)
with different maturity dates.
Historically, the combination
of an inverted
yield curve and a P / E ratio over 15 has been associated
with negative market returns, on average.
But rather than go back to the same well one more time
with a QE3, the Fed decided in September 2011 to implement Operation Twist, which is an effort to change the shape
of the Treasury
yield curve by purchasing longer term debt and selling short term paper.
Finally, liquidity seems to be slipping — too many markets
with abnormalities in the short end
of the
yield curve.
To measure the world's
yield curve, we'll use the countries
of the G7, excluding Japan, which has been out
of step
with other large economies for more than a decade.
But the underlying economic expectations that steeper
yield curves imply is
of global reflation — higher growth and
with it higher inflation.
The «usual shape»
of the
yield curve is positive; that is,
with short term rates lower than long term.
Other
yield curves can also be developed based upon a comparison
of credit investments
with similar risk characteristics.