Brian Chappatta, Columnist

BlackRock ETFs Smooth the Way for Treasury Investors

The money manager debuts a first-of-its-kind product to reflect shifting behavior.

February 27, 2020 at 2:18 PM UTC

Brian Chappatta is managing editor of Bloomberg News' leveraged finance and distressed debt teams. He was previously managing editor and team leader of its wealth group. Before that he was a Bloomberg Opinion markets and finance columnist and a bonds reporter for Bloomberg News.

Want Treasuries? There’s an ETF for that.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

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If it wasn’t abundantly clear already, this week marked a watershed moment for the $16.7 trillion U.S. Treasury market. Specifically, the benchmark 10-year yield has dropped to record lows in each of the past three trading sessions as the worldwide coronavirus outbreak pushes investors toward safe havens. It extends a bond bull market that dates back almost four decades.

For those who have been a part of the world’s biggest and most-liquid bond market during this tremendous run, trading individual Treasuries is old hat. For younger investors who’ve known only a world with exchange-traded funds for every asset class, though, figuring out how to actually own government securities can be a bit daunting. Sure, there are options like the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (ticker TLT), which reached a record high this week. But that fund doesn’t lock in a given yield, nor does it ever mature, two typical qualities of a fixed-income investment.