Rates volatility shows the risk in duration

The February sell-off in US treasuries was short-lived, but it highlights the dangers in long-dated bonds.

The spike in 10-year Treasury yields in the final week of February briefly looked as if it might pop the everything bubble in equity and bond markets that central banks have inflated in their desperate efforts to limit the cost of servicing swollen government debts.

Mark Haefele, chief investment officer of global wealth management at UBS, suggests: “Rising real yields, rather than inflation expectations, were responsible for the increase, and it is the speed of the move rather than the level of yields that unnerved markets.

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