Something Is Rotten In The State Of Yields

Submitted by Peter Tchir of Academy Securities

Treasuries, European Sovereign, and even Credit. Something seemed rotten this week, with Thursday’s price action in all 3 of those markets triggering the need to focus on this more. Debt markets underpin the entire global financial system and when things don’t “look,” or “feel,” or “smell” right, it warrants our collective attention. Yes, “feel” or “smell” doesn’t seem compelling as some authoritative answer, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth exploring.

For the past few weeks, our biggest complaint on Treasury yields has been that neither Bessent nor Warsh is addressing the root causes of higher Treasury yields. The root causes have far less to do with economic variables, inflation, and Fed independence, and much more to do with a global supply glut. Not just of sovereign debt. Not just of corporate debt, but also corporate debt adjusted for average duration as companies who need to issue longer-dated bonds have dominated the flow.