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In the wake of ECB's €60 billion a month QE madness (see "QE already Working" Says IMF Lagarde; Ho-Hum Details Announced; Gold the Place to Be), one might be wondering what it may do to European bond yields. German 10-Year Bond Yield image: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-of_KecAryfU/VMKLTNvRyfI/AAAAAAAAcFk/6Kswiqag_hg/s400/German%2B10-Year%2Bbond%2Byield.png click on chart for sharper image Since September of 2013, yield on the German 10-year bond has plunged from around 2% to 0.367%. ECB Risks German Bonds Mismatch Exceeding 100 Billion Euros With €720 billion annual asset purchases, a huge portion of the bonds the ECB buys will be German. Bloomberg explains ECB Risks German Bonds...

Jan 15 (Reuters) - All Swiss government bill rates and bond yields out to nine- year maturities traded below zero on Thursday, after the Swiss National Bank stunned markets by scrapping its exchange rate cap on the franc and lowered interest rates to -0.75 percent. This was unprecedented in modern times, and analysts said it was only a matter of time before the benchmark 10-year yield dropped below zero too. Swiss rates and yields out to five years had already been trading below zero, but the SNB's bombshell turned the yield on nine-year bonds negative for the first time as...

Investors are so nervous that they are basically willing to lose money when they buy some government bonds. It's part of the latest fad in finance that's all the rage: "going negative." The yields on government bonds in Europe and Japan have dipped into the uncharted waters of negative territory. That means buyers of those bonds are essentially taking a loss just to hold onto those assets. They think their money is better off losing a few cents than putting it elsewhere. "It's basically a fee for fear," said Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx. "Fear of deflation, fear...

If you do not believe that we are heading directly toward another major financial crisis, you need to read this article. So many of the exact same patterns that preceded the great financial collapse of 2008 are happening again right before our very eyes. History literally appears to be repeating, but most Americans seem absolutely oblivious to what is going on. The mainstream media and our politicians are promising them that everything is going to be okay somehow, and that seems to be good enough for most people. But the signs that another massive financial crisis is on the horizon...

Sam Ro January 6, 2015Over the past few days, we've seen stocks plummet and oil prices crash. But the most interesting moves have been occurring in the global bond markets where government bond yields have been plunging to historic lows. "2015 starts off with the average of G3 10 year government yields below 1%," wrote Steven Englander, Citi's global head of G10 FX Strategy. The G3 currency group consists of the US dollar, the euro, and the yen. On Tuesday, the US 10-year yield got as low as 1.959% and Japan's 10-year yield fell to as low as 0.288%. In...

Venezuela is really feeling the pinch from sliding oil prices. Now its bonds are in such bad shape that some investors are treating the country’s default as a near certainty. And they are taking action. How? Well certain banks have started to offer swap contracts that allow investors to fix the amount they can recover on insurance bought against a restructuring of the country’s debt, according to investors. If CDS contracts are triggered, the cheapest Venezuelan bonds trading in the market at that time will be used to determine payouts to protection holders. Those not wanting to take any chances...

Pacific Investment Management Co. suffered roughly $10 billion of withdrawals following the Friday departure of co-founder Bill Gross, a person familiar with the matter said, a sign of how quickly Mr. Gross’s surprise move is reshaping the bond-investing landscape. Pimco is bracing for more outflows on the heels of the veteran investor’s departure after months of internal strife over his leadership. At the same time, some managers say they remain committed to the firm. Some within the Newport Beach, Calif., investment firm are projecting it will lose at least $100 billion or more in assets due to withdrawals, the person...

First, the late Friday rally did manage to break the large-cap index back out above the downward sloping trading channel that has dominated the month, but only barely. Moreover, stocks quickly encountered heavy resistance at around 3PM at a shorter-term and much steeper downward sloping trading channel that has formed since the market peak on September 19. In short, it was a good bounce on Friday, but U.S. large-cap stocks still have a long way to go before they are even remotely in the clear to stage the next advance to new highs. For the rest of the U.S. stock...

Bill Gross, who co-founded Pacific Investment Management, or Pimco, in 1971, will leave his own firm to join competitor Janus Capital. Gross served as the firm’s chief investment officer and managed the Pimco Total Return fund — one of the world’s largest bond funds with more than $1.9 trillion in securities, according to the company’s website. The fund has not done well for years, though, and has been plagued by huge outflows. “I look forward to returning my full focus to the fixed income markets and investing, giving up many of the complexities that go with managing a large, complicated...

Linette LopezAugust 20, 2014Muted headlines about bond swaps aren't doing justice to the announcement Argentina's president made last night. With her attempt to pass a law nullifying a U.S. Court's ruling that the country pay all its creditors, Argentina is effectively turning its back on the rules governing international finance. If Argentina's congress passes this law, the country could enter a place where rules no longer matter and negotiation with the hedge funds to which it owes over $1.3 billion in sovereign debt are all but impossible. What this law does is put debt that was once legally governed by...

Ratings company Moody's on Tuesday slashed Puerto Rico's debt rating by three notches into even deeper junk status after the US territory passed a debt-restructuring law. Moody's Investors Service cut the rating to "B2" from "Ba2" and said the outlook was negative, indicating further downgrades were possible. Now dubbed the "Greece of the Caribbean," the archipelago is, like Greece, reeling under massive debt. Over the past decade, the commonwealth's debt has doubled to nearly $70 billion and investors are growing increasingly worried the government is running out of cash. In a bid for debt relief, the Puerto Rican authorities recently...

Argentina's attempt to work around SCOTUS decision in favor of the 'holdouts' was rejected (under anti-evasion orders) last night leaving Argentina no alternative but to threaten to default on its debt. The government called it "impossible" to pay bond service due on June 30, because payment to holders of restructured bonds could not be made unless the 'holdouts' were paid $1.33 billion at the same time (and Argentina's economy minister argues could be up to $15 bn) which the distressed country clearly does not have. For the first time in 12 years, Argentina has agreed to negotiate with the...

Back in mid-March, there was a brief scare after the start of the Ukraine conflict, when Fed custody holdings plunged by a record $104.5 billion (if promptly bouncing back the following week), leading many to believe that Russia may have dumped its Treasurys, or at least change its bond custodian. We noted that we wouldn't have a definitive answer until the May TIC number came out to know for sure how much Russia had sold, or if indeed, anything. Moments ago the May TIC numbers did come out, and as expected, Russia indeed dumped a record $26 billion, or some...

The bailout floodgates are open and the US taxpayer is footing the bill once again - whether through IMF loans or more directly. Today saw Ukraine issue $1 Billion 5-Year Notes at a stunningly low risk of only 28bps above US Treasuries and dramatically cheaper than the cost of capital in the public markets (and from the IMF) which yield over 10%. The reason for the 1) low cost, and 2) actual ability to raise debt... the bond is guaranteed by the US Agency for International Development and "assures full repayment of principal and interest" based on the full faith...

Long-term bonds are tumbling and interest rates are spiking after a 30-year Treasury bond auction saw weak demand. According to Bloomberg, 30-year Treasury bonds sold at a yield of 3.440%, which was much higher than the 3.392% expected by analysts. The bid-to-cover ratio, a measure of demand, was low at 2.09. Analysts were looking for a ratio of closer to 2.36. The results of the auction came out at 1:01 p.m. ET, which was when prices plunged.

Cyprus and Russia - what's the difference (aside from the fact that the former was a money laundering offshore center of the latter until last year of course)? If you said one is a lackey to statist, selfish banker interests, and after having its economy thoroughly destroyed by the great doomed European sociopolitical (and pathological) experiment, came crawling back to its Eurozone masters, while the other couldn't care one bit about Pax Petrodollariana and the global central bank cabal, you are right. In which case it will also be clear why a few hours ago that joke of a...

With 30 year bond yields set to close their lowest in 10 months, CNBC's Rick Santelli is concerned at the signals that the Treasury yield curve is sending.If yesterday's minutes from the Fed were supposed to walk back their 'hawkish' tone, then Santelli slams they are "gonna need a really big billboard" because the term structure is still flattening. "When 'flattening' is the theme, that is not painting a rosy outlook for the long-term economy," and as Santelli warns, this is when the Fed is pulling out of its extraordinary policies. Santelli screams, "the entire monetary policy side has to...

Commentary: Black-swan crisis warning for now through mid-April. SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Global risks are accelerating. This is our fourth major poll update of industry leaders: A critical review of their warnings from early last year when we first predicted a 87% risk of a crash: Bernanke’s Fed saw an “unsustainable bubble” ... Gross: “credit supernova” ... Gundlach: “kaboom ahead” ... Ellis: “Don’t own bonds” ... Shilling: “shocker” ... Roubini: “Prepare for perfect storm” ... Shiller: “Irrational exuberance is back” ... Schiff: “Doubling down” on “doomsday” prediction ... InvestmentNews’ warning 90,000 advisers: “tick, tick ... boom!”

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday another $10 billion cut in its monthly bond purchases in a statement that attributed the decision to “growing underlying strength in the broader economy.” The statement, published after a two-day meeting of the Fed’s policy-making committee, reflected the optimism of Fed officials that the economy is finally poised for faster growth after years of false starts and setbacks. It was the committee’s first unanimous decision since 2011. The Fed said it would expand its holdings of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities by $65 billion in February, down from $75 billion in January and $85...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Fitch Ratings has downgraded the credit worthiness of Chicago's bond debt because of its public pension problems. Fitch dropped the rating from AA- to A- on $8 billion in general obligation bonds, backed by property taxes. It also dropped the rating on $497 million in sales tax bonds — paid for by both the city's local sales tax and its share of the state sales tax.