One of the World’s Top Bond Markets Is Slowly Capitulating to QE
- Record issuance set to give way to more central bank dominance
- Traders look to Japan for what debt markets’ future will be
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In Europe, investors like Alessandro Tentori are starting to say their goodbyes to the region’s bond market, worried that soon there may not be any place left for them.
Collapsing trading volumes are a worrying sign for the market’s future, the chief investment officer for Axa Investment Managers wrote in a recent note to clients titled “Bye Bye Bunds,” a reference to the German bonds that serve as the benchmark for Europe. The culprit? The European Central Bank, which this year has taken its purchases of debt to unprecedented levels. By the end of 2021, investors will be even more squeezed out.