Category: US Bonds
The analysis published under this category are as follows.Sunday, December 28, 2008
ETF Bond Yields Confirm Deflation / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
The table below presents the SEC 30-day yield and the portfolio yield-to-maturity reported for most of the Barclay's iShares bond ETFs.
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Monday, December 22, 2008
U.S. Treasury Bond Steamroller Keeps Chugging Higher / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
The bond market just keeps on chugging higher. Yields on the 30 year Treasury Bond decreased for a 7th consecutive weeks as the Long Bond future rallied an unprecedented 29 points since the end of October. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it must be just another blow-off top. It is really no big deal, blow-offs have been a dime a dozen this year, so there is no reason to get too excited. I apologize for plagiarizing my own work from last week, but I just could not think of presenting it in a more appropriate manner. Heading into the year end, the signs of extreme distress remain evident in the bond market.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Bond Investors Turn Bullish on U.S. Treasuries / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Here is a headline I am laughing at: Bond Investors Turn Most Bullish on Treasuries Since February
Treasuries will appreciate over the next six months as the U.S. economy reels from its worst recession in a quarter-century, a monthly survey of Bloomberg users showed.
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Wednesday, December 17, 2008
U.S. Fed Opts to Inflate Treasury Bond Bubble / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Beware - “Quantitative Easing” is Hallucinogenic - American bankers are so fearful of a replay of the 1930's Great Depression, they've finally reached the point of "No-return," – lending $30-billion to Uncle Sam at a rock-bottom interest rate of zero-percent. Demand was so great at the last auction, the Treasury could have sold four-times as many T-bills. If short-term T-bill rates go negative, frightened bankers would effectively be paying the US Treasury for the privilege of lending money to it! But remember, "The Fed can guarantee cash benefits as far out, and at whatever size you like, but we cannot guarantee their purchasing power," former Fed chief, "Easy" Al Greenspan told Congress on Feb 15, 2005.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
U.S. Treasury Bonds Soar Following Zero Interest Rates Policy / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
The extraordinary near-vertical advance in the Lehman 20 Year T-bond ETF (AMEX: TLT) continues, as yield on both the 10 and 30 year Treasuries plummets. Let's notice that for the first time in what I consider to be the "blow-off" stage (since 12./12), the TLTs have gapped up, which technically suggests strongly that the price structure has entered the final phase of the incredible "parabolic" move.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
U.S. Treasury Bonds Blow-off Top? / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
The bond market just keeps on chugging higher. Yields on the 30 year Treasury Bond decreased for a 6 th consecutive weeks as the Long Bond future rallied an unprecedented 23 points since the end of October. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it must be just another blow-off top. It is really no big deal, blow-offs have been a dime a dozen this year, so there is no reason to get too excited.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, December 15, 2008
Any Confidence in Corporate America could send Corporate Bond Prices Higher / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Cars – from the musical group to songs about various models (Little Deuce Coupe, Pink Cadillac) to songs about the road (Route 66, King of the Road) it is little wonder the market was captivated by the death dance in Washington regarding the auto companies. When it looked as though they would crash and burn, the markets indicated a 4-5% decline coming into Friday, only a willingness by the White House and the Treasury to use money earmarked for the financial sector, did the markets turn slightly higher on the week.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, December 12, 2008
U.S. Bond Markets on the Edge of Collapse / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Mike Larson writes: I thought I had witnessed a lot of craziness in the bond market over the past year:
• The utter obliteration of subprime mortgage bonds …
Friday, December 12, 2008
U.S. Treasury Bond Market Bubble Hits Manic Stage / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
This week marked the beginning of what I believe is the manic bubble stage in the nearly three decade long Treasury bull market. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Treasury sold $27 billion of three month bills at a discount rate of .005%. That rate is the lowest since the auction began in 1929. On Tuesday, $30 billion of four-week Treasury bills were sold at 0%! Again, the lowest yield ever recorded for that security.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Goldman Recommends Credit Default Swaps as States Face Bankruptcy / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
On November 25 I wrote State of New Jersey Is Insolvent
The state of New Jersey is insolvent. Bankrupt might be a better word. New Jersey is $60 billion in the hole on pension funding and the Governor is planning on skipping payments in a "pension payment holiday" until 2012 so as to not increase property taxes. To top it off, the ongoing plan assumptions are 8.25%. Sorry NJ, that simply is not going to happen. ....
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Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The State of State Municipal Bond Funds / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Several of our clients have come to us this past week with questions and concerns about municipal bond funds.
They are concerned about recent performance, about California projected cash shortages, about many states struggling with budget deficits, about the fate of revenue bonds in the face of current economic problems; and whether the US government would bailout states the way they are bailing out banks, insurance companies, industrial “banks”, federal mortgage agencies, and automobile companies.
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Monday, December 08, 2008
The Great U.S. Treasury Bond Market Trap / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
One of the more unusual manifestations of the financial meltdown this year has been the dollar spike, that caught a lot of traders by surprise, and was generated in part by a stampede into the percieved safety of short-expiry US Treasuries, which necessitated the purchase of US dollars. This is now arriving at its ultimate conclusion where Treasury yields have been beaten down to zero, which means that in real terms they are negative, resulting in the bizarre situation where investors are now paying the US government for the privilege of lending them money. This is clearly an untenable circumstance that cannot be expected to continue indefinitely, and it has only been occasioned by desperation, as panicked investors have sought safe haven.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, December 08, 2008
U.S. Treasury Bonds Reach Extreme Overbought State / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
The bond market not only held the breakout levels from a couple of weeks ago, but continued to power ahead to the lowest yields seen on long term Treasury Bonds in half a century. The US administration, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve along with authorities world wide have been desperately trying all sorts of new programs to foster the flow of credit. Thus far these programs have not seemed to work. It feels like the authorities are just throwing money, programs, bailouts at a wall and hope that something will stick.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Low Interest Rates Spell Big Problems / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Government and mainstream economists have erroneously concluded that the key to reversing the financial free fall can be found in stopping the plunge in home prices. (I would offer the corollary that the key to reducing injuries in auto accidents is to suspend the laws of inertia). But to accomplish the improbable task of re-inflating the housing bubble, the government appears ready to announce a coordinated plan to push down mortgage rates to just 4.5%. Of course, this is precisely the wrong solution to the housing crisis, but when it comes to bad ideas our government has been remarkably consistent.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, December 05, 2008
U.S. Treasury Bonds the Biggest Bubble of All? / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Mike Larson writes: We've lived through some truly historic bubbles in recent years:
• The dot-com bubble was a doozy …
• The housing bubble was even bigger, and …
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Tuesday, December 02, 2008
U.S. Treasuries Massive Rally as Helicopter Ben Fires Buyback Bazooka / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Treasuries staged yet another massive rally today as Helicopter Ben imitates Paulson and pulls out his own bazooka. Inquiring minds are noting that Treasury Yields Drop to Record Lows as Bernanke Cites Buybacks .
Treasuries rose, pushing yields to record lows, as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the central bank may purchase Treasuries and target long-term interest rates to combat the deepening recession.
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Saturday, November 29, 2008
U.S. Treasury Bull Market Living on Borrowed Time / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
I must confess that the pattern in the bond market is a bit surprising. Yield on the 30-year T-bond fell to a low of 3.48% on Friday, which helped to propel the Lehman 20+ Year T-Bond (AMEX: TLT) to a new high of 106.30. Who exactly feels comfortable buying a 30-year piece of paper at less than 3.50% is a mystery in general, but specifically at THIS time, after all of the stimulus and rescue plans, the incredible 24/7 use of the printing presses, and during a period when equities are staging an impressive rally (so far).Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, November 24, 2008
Bond Yields Breakout to New Multi-year Lows / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
The bond market convincingly broke out to new multi decade lows on yields. As the dismal economic data just continues to get worse, Treasury securities ironically remain the safe haven of last resort. Once the Quarterly Treasury auctions were out of the way, traders got the green light to boldly take the US Long Bond Futures to levels where no Long Bond contract has gone before! Risk remains the dirtiest of all dirty four letter words, so government bonds are the best place to hide.Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, November 23, 2008
U.S. Treasuries, the Final Asset Bubble / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
So far, the credit crisis has produced four asset bubbles as investors shifted from one asset class to the next. Three of these bubble have burst, but the last one, US treasuries, remains.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Misguided Bets On The Yield Curve Steepening / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Bloomberg is reporting U.S. Long-Term Treasuries Advance as Consumer Prices Plummet .Treasuries maturing in 10 years or more, the most sensitive to inflation expectations, rose after a government report showed consumer prices dropped in October by the most on record.
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