Bond rout wipes out 2015 gains as traders stay glued to screens
Fixed-income slide continues as ECB chief says investors should get used to recent weeks' heightened volatility
Toronto
THE global bond market sell-off has erased all of this year's gains as historic market moves from Germany to the United States and Japan whipsaw traders. After being up as much as 2.3 per cent as at mid-April, the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Broad Market Index of bonds with a total face value of US$41 trillion is now down 0.4 per cent for the year.
Bond traders have been caught off guard by signs the worldwide economy is likely to avoid mass deflation and by improvement in the eurozone's economy, leaving little incentive to own debt securities with yields that in some cases are below zero. Fixed income continued its slide on Thursday, a day after European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi said investors should get used to the heightened volatility they've seen in recent weeks.
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
International
Sri Lanka’s economy expected to grow 3% in 2024, central bank says
Yellen says US can bring inflation down without hurting jobs
US dollar briefly falls versus yen after GDP data
US weekly jobless claims unexpectedly fall
US economic growth slows more than expected in Q1
Malaysia ex-PM Mahathir facing anti-graft probe in a case involving his sons