Treasuries Repo Rout Fueled by Japan’s Rush Out of Global Debt
- Japan sold $34 billion of foreign bonds in the past two weeks
- Funds have been liquidating old Treasury holdings, say traders
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Bond bulls hoping Japan’s deep-pocketed investors can arrest the global debt rout are in for a surprise -- they are furious sellers, to a degree that’s causing problems for crucial parts of the market’s plumbing.
Japanese funds sold a record $34 billion of foreign bonds in the two weeks ended Feb. 26 as the nation’s fiscal year-end in March approaches -- enough to cause reverberations in U.S. repurchase markets for 10-year Treasuries.