Bond Traders Still Come Out as Winners After Four Fed Rate Hikes
- Ten-year Treasuries yield less than in December 2015
- China purchases, fund flows point to sustained demand
Pedestrians pass in front of the exterior of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Monday, May 16, 2016. Brent crude rose to a six-month high, leading a rebound in commodities and boosting the stocks from the U.S. to developing markets, as supply disruptions in Nigeria added to production woes.
It’s been 18 months since the Federal Reserve’s first post-crisis increase in interest rates. Four hikes in, investors in the $14 trillion Treasuries market are laughing all the way to the bank.
The 10-year yield ended last week at 2.15 percent, after touching the lowest levels of 2017 as weaker-than-forecast inflation data stoked speculation that the Fed was erring with its tightening plans. In December 2015, before the central bank’s first hike in nine years, the note yielded about 2.27 percent.