Japan Sells 10-Year Bonds at Negative Yield for the First Time
(Bloomberg) – The Japanese government got paid to borrow money for a decade for the first time, selling 2.2 trillion yen ($19.5 billion) of the debt at an average yield of minus 0.024 percent on Tuesday.
The sale drew bids for 3.2 times the amount of the securities offered, the first increase in demand since an auction in December, according to the Finance Ministry. Japanese government bonds of as long as five years in maturity sold at an average yield below zero for the first time last month, after the Bank of Japan pushed yields lower across the curve with the announcement of negative interest rates Jan. 29.
“Demand was stronger than expected,” said Shuichi Ohsaki, chief rates strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “The outcome suggests there is ample demand before redemption of existing bonds in March.”
The benchmark 10-year bond yield dropped as low as minus 0.075 percent after the auction, matching a record. Yields on 20-year debt sank to an unprecedented 0.46 percent, while those on 30-year securities declined to an all-time low of 0.765 percent.
The JGB yield curve was the flattest on record at the end of last week, under pressure from the BOJ’s bond purchases, with the premium offered by 10-year securities over two-year notes narrowing to just 11.5 basis points. The central bank buys as much as 12 trillion yen of the nation’s government debt a month.
Here are a few words from Bill Gross. ¨The secret in a negative interest rate world that poses extraordinary duration risk for AAA sovereign bonds is to (1) keep bond maturities short and (2) borrow at those attractive yields in a mildly levered form that provides a yield (and expected return) of 5-6%.¨
Borrow, Borrow, Borrow. Not Produce, Produce, Produce. Capital formation will continue to decline as will any type of middle class.
(Bloomberg) – The Japanese government got paid to borrow money for a decade for the first time, selling 2.2 trillion yen ($19.5 billion) of the debt at an average yield of minus 0.024 percent on Tuesday.
The sale drew bids for 3.2 times the amount of the securities offered, the first increase in demand since an auction in December, according to the Finance Ministry. Japanese government bonds of as long as five years in maturity sold at an average yield below zero for the first time last month, after the Bank of Japan pushed yields lower across the curve with the announcement of negative interest rates Jan. 29.
“Demand was stronger than expected,” said Shuichi Ohsaki, chief rates strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “The outcome suggests there is ample demand before redemption of existing bonds in March.”
The benchmark 10-year bond yield dropped as low as minus 0.075 percent after the auction, matching a record. Yields on 20-year debt sank to an unprecedented 0.46 percent, while those on 30-year securities declined to an all-time low of 0.765 percent.
The JGB yield curve was the flattest on record at the end of last week, under pressure from the BOJ’s bond purchases, with the premium offered by 10-year securities over two-year notes narrowing to just 11.5 basis points. The central bank buys as much as 12 trillion yen of the nation’s government debt a month.
Here are a few words from Bill Gross. ¨The secret in a negative interest rate world that poses extraordinary duration risk for AAA sovereign bonds is to (1) keep bond maturities short and (2) borrow at those attractive yields in a mildly levered form that provides a yield (and expected return) of 5-6%.¨
Borrow, Borrow, Borrow. Not Produce, Produce, Produce. Capital formation will continue to decline as will any type of middle class.