Thierry from arvy
CFA, Co-Founder & CIO of arvy, Quality Investing
Bonds may be the biggest bubble of our lifetime as the 39-year bond bull market looks over, with the 10-year Treasury yield approaching 5%. From the 1981 peak near 15% to the 2020 low near 0.5%, falling rates became the assumption that passive investing, long-duration growth and the 60/40 portfolio were built on. Yields have moved in multi-decade rises and falls before, and the unwind has barely started, though history is not a timetable. x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
Intermediate Treasuries offer an asymmetric payoff because a 4.7% 10-year coupon absorbs most of a bad year. With duration near 7, a one-point rise in yields nets about -2%, while a recessionary fall to 2.7% nets about +19%. Equities carry the same rate risk with no coupon, as households hold a record 46% of financial assets in stocks and BofA's Bull and Bear Indicator reads 9.7. This is a simplified illustration, and rising yields are a real risk, with three Fed officials dissenting for a hike. x.comÂ
Inflation has broken long-dated US Treasuries' safe-haven role. Long-term Treasuries have returned -4.1% annually in the 2020s to date, versus +4.9% in the 1930s. Long bonds look unlikely to do well for at least the rest of this decade. x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
Long-dated Treasury yields need to stay high because megacap tech companies now compete for bond buyers. Oracle bonds yield over 8%, Meta's over 7%, and Google sold a 10x-oversubscribed 100-year sterling bond above 6%, while hyperscaler issuance is surging from $35B toward $200B. Megacaps are becoming as creditworthy as governments, making this a new paradigm of persistent competition, and Warsh appears to agree hyperscaler debt plays a role. x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
Long-dated US Treasuries look favorable as the rise in 10-year yields appears mostly over; inflation searches have peaked, and only 13 of 29 tracked commodities are above their 50-day averages. x.com x.com x.comÂ
Long-dated Treasuries are the safe-haven trade again as money rotates into yield. With the 30-year paying over 5%, holding non-yielding assets is harder to justify; after the Fed held, yields fell across the curve and TLT rose 1%. x.comÂ
Falling Treasury yields reinforce the growth-scare thesis and mark a bullish turn for long-dated Treasuries. The 10-year yield is breaking below 5% as TLT rallies. x.comÂ
Long-term Treasury yields keep climbing because investors increasingly doubt America enough to lend to it for 30 years, and nobody can force them to lend cheap. US debt is $40 trillion, interest costs over $1 trillion a year, more than the military, and the deficit is 6% of GDP during a boom. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's $4 billion buybacks are fake demand that fixes none of the overspending, a point Stanley Druckenmiller made in his op-ed "Let the Bond Market Speak." x.com x.com x.com … Show more
High Treasury yields keep US real-estate stocks from being a buy yet, despite a record low against the S&P 500. Each hike pushes the sector lower; the 10-year yield above 5% argues for waiting rather than assuming rotation is inevitable. A turn likely needs falling rates, perhaps a first cut or the 10-year back below 4%. x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com x.comÂ
Long-dated US Treasuries face pressure because the market will buy US debt only at 5%-plus yields, with no short-term fix in sight. The 10-year yield keeps climbing parabolically as Washington issues enormous debt to fund deficits, investors demand more compensation for inflation and duration risk, the Fed is now raising rates, and Treasuries must compete harder for global capital. The government seems reluctant to act, while rising oil prices add to inflation pressure. x.comÂ
Treasury yields are putting in a top, and bonds look to be at a major bottom. Deflation is coming, and investors are extrapolating rate momentum, adding two plus two and getting six; that move will likely reverse soon. The fear in questions about how high rates can go is typical of major bottoms. Equity markets are not close to signaling a reversal either. x.com x.comÂ
Long-dated US Treasuries show textbook capitulation, suggesting the 10-year yield is near a temporary top. Long bonds have closed below the lower Bollinger band for five straight days on rising volume, with implied-volatility rank at an extreme, a sign of extremely crowded shorts. High rates do little to restrain highly profitable companies such as big tech and semiconductors. x.comÂ
