Why Are Bonds Still Crashing?Why are US, UK, and EU bonds still crashing since March 2020?
In this video, we are going to study the relationship between bonds, yields, and interest rates, which many of us find confusing. How can we understand them, and why are bond prices leading the yield, followed by interest rates this season?
10 Year Yield Futures
Ticker: 10Y
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0.001 Index points (1/10th basis point per annum) = $1.00
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Bondyields
There is no bottom in the stock without a bottom in the bond
My Dashboard on Tradingview
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where I am monitoring the entire bond market in the world with my magma indicator, country by country.
When investing for the long term I first look the bond market before leaping in the stocks.
There are few simple and important rules to follow in this market.
1. Higher Bond yields = Lower Bond Prices = Bottom in the bond market is more bottom
2. Short-mid term bond yields is closing to long-term yields (example 2-Years yield = 10-Years yield) = This means flattening = not good for long-term investment, stay alerting for your paper profits.
3. Short-mid term bond yields is greater than long-term yields (example 2-Years yield is greater than 10-Years yield) = This means inversion = not good, imminent fear of recession (remember: stock market does not perform well during recessions)
4. Short-mid-term bond yields is less than long-term yields (example 2-Years yield is less than 10-Years yield and going lower) = That's fine, economics sounds good for long-term investments
What I see now: United States, Canada, Brazil are countries with the most prolongated inversion areas (highlighted with red circles in the figure above).
5. More prolongated inversion = not good, even more.
Flattening areas (yellow circles) have to be carefully monitored.
Few examples currently are showing good news (green circles) : Japan long-term and mid-term yield curves are fine and in the good direction. Same as in Australia.
Complete Macro AnalysisHello everybody! This is a follow up on my 6-part traditional and crypto market analysis, yet everyone that reads this one will benefit greatly, regardless of whether they've read any of the previous analyses or not. Over the last week I provided some updates on each part, however it currently makes more sense for me to make a brand-new holistic analysis, rather than provide small updates on each part. This one will be focused entirely on traditional markets, while the next one will be focused entirely on crypto.
In order for anyone to have a better idea of where markets might be headed next, it is best to start with the bond market. Bond yields have been rising across the world and across the entire curve, with the big distinction that lower duration bond yields have been rising significantly faster than long term ones. The main reason that this is happening is that bond markets are expecting Central banks to raise rates a few times in the next 1-2 years, but don't believe they can do anything more than that. Essentially the market sees inflation being transitory, that the global economy is in a bad shape and that Central banks are in such a terrible spot, that by the time they raise rates a few times, they will be forced to start cutting them again.
Based on the charts below, it is clear that bond yields are still in a massive downtrend. The 10y yields have started hitting resistance, while yesterday we got the first rejection at resistance due to the Russia/Ukraine news. It is pretty normal for people to seek safety at times like this, by buying bonds (bond yields and bonds are inversely correlated). So, as you can see on the third chart, the minute bonds got to support and the news started coming out, the bond market bounced. Although I wish that war between Russia and Ukraine doesn't happen, and actually believe it won't happen, in case that it does happens, the Fed gets some room to not raise rates. For many reasons that I mentioned in the previous analysis, it is clear that inflation will come down significantly in 2022 and there is very little the Fed could do about it anyways. Therefore, any excuse they might be able to use to not raise, they will probably use it. Having said all that, bonds are still in a short to medium term bear market, and could fall another 5-10% before they put in a final bottom (yields going up by 0.5-1% from here).
Now the situation between Russia and Ukraine doesn't affect markets just because it affects the psychology of people or because governments print money to cover expenses of war. There are several severe implications around trade and resources, as a lot of trade especially between Europe and Russia could stop, while Russia is a major exporter of commodities, primarily of Oil and Natural Gas. Europe and the entire world were already facing serious problems around energy, and this could make things even worse. Again, for many reasons mentioned in the previous analysis, there isn't enough oil above ground or oil production to cover the needs of the world at reasonable prices. OPEC isn't even able to meet its production increase goals, let alone be able to handle Russia not giving oil to the rest of the world. Oil is already pretty expensive relative to where it should be given the current state of the global economy, and based on the charts it could go significantly higher. So far, the market has behaved as I had expected, with a rise up to 92-93$, a pullback and now another push higher. It's not yet clear if the current situation will boost oil prices above 100$, but it is certainly possible. In the short term it is easy to see a mini 'speculative shock', that could send crude up to 115-120$, only for it to then come all the way down to 75$ and find support there.
What is interesting to note is how Gold has been able to hold its ground for so long, despite bond yields going higher. Not only that, but it currently sits above all major moving averages and pivots, while it has also broken above its key diagonal resistance. The truth is that the breakout isn't as decisive as one might have expected based on the news that came out on Friday, hence it might be a trap. It’s clear that the breakout was heavily affected by the the Russia/Ukraine news and that could be the catalyst for a gold bull market, but it’s still prudent to be cautious. What is even more interesting is that Gold has gone up, while most Central banks are raising or plan to raise rates, and while the USD has been going up since early 2021. In my previous analysis, I mentioned how I thought gold going up or down is more like a coin toss, as there is a strong case to be made in either direction. Some people took that as me being bearish on Gold, while what I had said was that above 1930-1940 gold might be tremendous for going long. Personally I prefer to buy strength and simply sacrifice some gains, in order to avoid being stuck in a trade that doesn't do well.
A few weeks ago, the ECB hadn't even talked about raising rates, but now they have. Right after the Fed meeting the EURUSD pair had a major reversal that accelerated when the ECB started turning hawkish. My initial thought was to watch Gold closely, as now 3 of the 5 major Central banks are raising or talking about raising rates, yet gold remains strong. At the moment EURUSD has been rejected at resistance with an SFP, yet it still has some room to the upside. It's above the 50 DMA and the diagonal, so if everything goes well and tensions get resolved peacefully, the pair could easily get to 1.15-1.17 by the next Fed meeting. The USD seems to already been losing steam as the yield curve is flattening and there are already 7 rate hikes being priced in. Hence the ‘real’ news isn’t that the Fed will raise rates by 0.25% in an emergency meeting or that it will raise rates by 0.5%, but that the ECB might raise rates after an entire decade, as well as that all Central banks will be forced to cut rates relatively soon.
Therefore, this gold strength could also be an indication that many investors are betting on a policy error by Central banks, which might be forced to reverse course faster than people expect. What people need to know, is that gold doesn't behave like most people think it does. Gold in our age, is more like an error/catastrophe hedge, that tends to follow real rates. For example, today Gold could benefit from two things: 1. A war is definitely a big boost for gold, as people might want to own it because it is of limited supply and has no counterparty risk, and it can easily be owned anywhere. Countries that go to war tend to devalue their currency or even seize assets, or that country itself could be excluded from the global financial system, like being kicked out of the SWIFT system. In such a situation gold tends to offer tremendous certainty, while nothing else really does, not even US treasuries. 2. When Central banks are cornered or have no real control over a certain situation. Currently it is obvious that Central banks are trapped, and that there is another major 'catastrophe' lying ahead. The world is stuck in an environment of low growth and too much debt, with markets being significantly overleveraged. None of the problems over the last 20-30 years have been solved, only papered over, hoping that the system magically heals, with the last 13 years alone being full of examples of them always acting late. Finally, the key reasons why gold hasn't done well during a situation of deeply negative interest rates, is that 1. Gold had rallied significantly since 2018, 2. There were lots of different, more compelling opportunities out there, 3. Everyone was already prepared (nobody else to buy + people had to sell gold as inflation increased to covered other costs, essentially using their insurance), 4. Most of the inflation wasn't caused by the Fed / Central bank actions.
After having gone through all of the above, it is definitely time to talk about stocks. Once again I’ll focus on the top 3 US indices, SPX, NDX and RUT, as they can give us a pretty good idea of where stocks are headed globally. In my previous analysis I mentioned how I expected a bounce, a dip and then another bounce, which all pretty much played out based on my technical analysis, with one exception. The last move up was shorter than initially expected, however even based on my tools I was probably 'too optimistic'.
Starting with the S&P 500, we can see how the bullish channel was broken and significant downside followed. Then the market had a strong bounce off the 300 DMA + horizontal support. After the bounce it got rejected on the 100 DMA + diagonal resistance + horizontal resistance, and fell down to the 200 DMA where it bounced. What is odd to me is that the bounce ended with a double top, rather than getting up to the 50 DMA and test the diagonal, while forming an SFP. A double top there is somewhat bullish in the short term, as it is an area that the market will probably break before making new lows. At the moment the market is sitting right at the Yearly Pivot but has broken below the 200 DMA, a situation that is neither very bullish or bearish. As a whole the momentum is indeed pointing lower and this isn't a great picture.
In turn the Nasdaq 100 is actually looking much worse than the S&P 500, as a lot of the big tech behemoths have been taking several big hits recently. Slow growth, higher inflation and higher interest rates, are definitely not beneficial for these companies. For example, we saw a massive gap down for Facebook after a disappointing earnings report, a gap similar to what happened in June 2018, with the NDX going down 19% from that point in the next 6 months. Tech stocks have massively outperformed everything else since 2009, and pretty much everything compared to where they were in Feb 2020, so it is normal to get some extra weakness in this index. At the same time several parts of the stock market started peaking throughout 2021, with mid Feb 2021 being a major inflection point. At that time many unprofitable tech related companies had reached bubble territory and started reversing, but the effects of their valuation getting crushed started having an impact on NDX three months ago.
The third index and final index is the Russell 2000, which looks like it was in distribution for about 10 months, while a few days ago it had a throw back into resistance. The RUT had a really strong breakout in Nov 2020 and by March 2021 it was up 35%. Then in September it formed a clear bull trap that led to the major leg down. Once the 2100 support that was tested multiple times for about a year was broken, it became clear that more downside would soon follow. At the time of my previous analysis, I mentioned that we'd probably see the Russell retest that support and flip it into resistance, which happened as expected. Now the index is below all major moving averages and Pivots, and is still looking bearish, even though in the short term it has shown a decent amount of strength. Until it reclaims 2250, it remains in bearish territory and it is probably best to avoid going long,
Based on all the above, things overall aren't looking great. At least not in the short to medium term, for the economy and the stock market. Central banks are trapped and most investors are aware of that, and now there is an extra variable, that of the conflict. So the question then becomes, if everyone is aware of all of this, couldn't the market simply go up from here? Aren't lots of these things priced in? Aren't wars said to be good for the stock market? Well, like I mentioned above all of these are correct. It is true that due to the conflict we might see bond yields roll over and we get more stimulus from central banks and governments, both of which could push stocks higher. However, in the short term there is a lot of uncertainty due to the way many things will get disrupted in the world. Because of that gold and oil could go ballistic, hence they are the best bets at the moment. It is probably best to stay away from stocks for now, as their potential downside is substantial, while their potential upside is limited as they need some time to recover. Nothing in the charts really suggest that they are ready to go up hard any time soon. Let's also not forget that stocks would have eventually deflated to an extend, regardless of what the Fed or what happens in the world, as the 2020-2021 frenzy couldn't last forever. Of course this doesn't mean that I believe a major bear market is in play right now, just that the SPX could eventually get to 3900-4000 in the next year, that the NDX will test its major log diagonal and that the RUT will its 2018 highs. Although I don't know how or when we get there, to me the most likely scenario is that within the next 2 years bond yields will collapse and the government will be forced to spend a lot, while the Fed is forced to cut rates and do QE. Even if the yields don't collapse and inflation goes rampant, the US government will still be forced to print and spend a lot, something that would make the problems worse.
In conclusion, despite the fact that I was mostly bullish on stocks and oil through 2020-2021 and neutral-bearish on gold, my stance now remains bullish on oil (buying dips anywhere from 55-75$), neutral-bullish on gold and neutral-bearish on stocks. For me to turn bullish on stocks again, I'd either need to see certain levels get to the downside or reclaim certain levels to the upside, or some extreme action by central banks or governments. In terms of US bonds and the US Dollar, the picture is not as clear. In early 2021 I was bearish on bonds, but after that I was bullish as I didn't really expect the Fed to raise rates and thought bonds were significantly oversold. Even if I wasn't expecting the Fed to raise rates, the USD was also extremely oversold and none of the issues of the financial system had been solved. The world was still short on dollars, what the Fed and the government did was too little and at the same time everyone printed. In the current environment, on the one hand bonds are in major downtrend and the USD is in a major uptrend, and on the other hand both might have reversed after hitting major inflection points. Hence it is probably better to either go with the trend or simply wait a bit until the market gives us a clearer picture as to where it wants to go next.
Thanks a lot for reading and good luck with your trading! :)
High consumer price inflation is good for borrowers, right? Err…Another Market Myth Exposed
The Nasdaq index has now declined by 10% from its November high , prompting the mainstream financial media to call it a “ correction ” whatever that means. I think they call it a bear market when it is down by 20% . Many stocks have already fallen by at least that amount, and realistically, it’s all semantics anyway.
It’s early days, but what is curious, though, is that high yield , or junk , bonds continue to hold up. To be fair, junk bonds, as measured by the U.S.$ CCC & Lower-rated yield spread reached peak outperformance in June last year and have underperformed since, but yet there have been no signs, as yet, of any rush out of the sector.
I heard an analyst on Bloomberg TV yesterday say that he was bullish of credit, particularly junk, because it does well in an accelerating consumer price inflation environment. The theory is that higher consumer price inflation means that companies can increase prices, thereby increasing revenue in nominal terms. At the same time, though, the amount the company owes via its bonds remains the same, thereby decreasing the debt’s real value and making it easier to service. It’s a win-win situation apparently, and that means junk bonds outperform.
The opposite should be true under consumer price deflation. Junk bonds should underperform because, with nominal corporate revenues declining, the value of debt goes up in real terms, making it harder for corporates to service it.
OK, I thought, channeling Mike Bloomberg’s mantra of, “ in God we trust, everyone else bring data ” let’s have a look at the evidence.
The chart above shows the U.S. dollar-denominated CCC & Lower-rated yield spread versus the annualized rate of consumer price inflation in the U.S . Apart from the period of 2004 to 2006, there’s hardly any evidence to suggest that accelerating consumer price inflation is good for the high-yield corporate debt market.
Junk bonds were only just being invented by Michael Milken in the 1970s, and didn’t come into popularity until the 1980s, but we can examine corporate bond performance by looking at the Moody’s Seasoned Aaa Corporate yield spread to U.S. Treasuries. Doing so, reveals that, in the first major consumer price inflation spike, between 1973 and 1975, corporate debt underperformed as the yield spread widened. In the second major consumer price inflation spike, from 1978 to 1980, corporate debt briefly outperformed but then underperformed dramatically, as annualized price inflation reached 13%.
It goes without saying, of course, that this analysis is just looking at the relative performance of corporate debt under accelerating consumer price inflation. The nominal performance is another matter. Borrowers and lenders ( bond investors ) both got savaged in the 1970s with the Moody’s Seasoned Aaa Corporate yield rising from 3% to close to 12%.
The conclusion we must reach is that the level of consumer price inflation does not matter to relative corporate bond performance. It does, however, matter for nominal performance . More semantics, some may say. What really matters is how it affects one’s wallet.
Macroeconomics 101: inflation, bonds, interest rates, stocksHello fellow traders and dear padawans. The equities market has been hit very hard the past 3 weeks or so, specially growth stocks. I think it is important to address what is happening behind the scenes that caused the selloff in the equities market so that many of you can better understand what is going on.
This is a very basic explanation of macroeconomics and by no means thorough but I know that many of my followers would benefit from it at times like these. To establish a common ground I will start with some definitions of terms. I wanted to keep things straight forward so I am getting these definitions from investopedia.com because they did a much better job than I would, defining terms thoroughly yet concisely. Keep in mind these are short definitions of concepts that deserve in-depth study if you want to understand them fully. However, for the purpose of this discussion what follows is enough (you can always read full articles on investopedia.com or somewhere else). If you are well versed on those you can certainly skip ahead (or use this as a refresher).
DEFINITIONS
Inflation : Inflation is the decline of purchasing power of a given currency over time. A quantitative estimate of the rate at which the decline in purchasing power occurs can be reflected in the increase of an average price level of a basket of selected goods and services in an economy over some period of time. The rise in the general level of prices, often expressed a a percentage means that a unit of currency effectively buys less than it did in prior periods. Inflation can be contrasted with deflation, which occurs when the purchasing power of money increases and prices decline.
Bonds : A bond is a fixed income instrument that represents a loan made by an investor to a borrower (typically corporate or governmental). A bond could be thought of as an I.O.U. between the lender and borrower that includes the details of the loan and its payments. Bonds are used by companies, municipalities, states, and sovereign governments to finance projects and operations. Owners of bonds are debtholders, or creditors, of the issuer. Bond details include the end date when the principal of the loan is due to be paid to the bond owner and usually includes the terms for variable or fixed interest payments made by the borrower.
Treasury Notes : A Treasury note (T-note for short) is a marketable U.S. government debt security with a fixed interest rate and a maturity between one and 10 years. Issued in maturities of two, three, five, seven and 10 years, Treasury notes are extremely popular investments, as there is a large secondary market that adds to their liquidity. Interest payments on the notes are made every six months until maturity. Treasury notes, bonds, and bills are all types of debt obligations issued by the U.S. Treasury. The key difference between them is their length of maturity. For example, a Treasury bond’s maturity exceeds 10 years and goes up to 30 years, making Treasury bonds the longest-dated, sovereign fixed-income security.
Federal Fund Rates : The federal funds rate refers to the interest rate that banks charge other banks for lending to them excess cash from their reserve balances on an overnight basis. By law, banks must maintain a reserve equal to a certain percentage of their deposits in an account at a Federal Reserve bank. The amount of money a bank must keep in its Fed account is known as a reserve requirement and is based on a percentage of the bank's total deposits. They are required to maintain non-interest-bearing accounts at Federal Reserve banks to ensure that they will have enough money to cover depositors' withdrawals and other obligations. Any money in their reserve that exceeds the required level is available for lending to other banks that might have a shortfall.
Note: although the Federal Fund Rates are charged to banks, banks pass them down to clients' personal/auto/student/mortgage loans and credit card interest rates so these interest rates cascade down to society as a whole.
With those out of the way we can start discussing the relationship they have with one another as well as the equities market and understand what is happening with the stock markets.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INFLATION AND INTEREST RATES
In general they have inverse correlation, meaning when one goes up the other goes down. The inverse correlation happens because when interest rates are low people feel encouraged to borrow money, which leads to more spending thus creating more demand of goods and services than supply. When demand is bigger than supply prices will increase to both slow down demand and also (perhaps more importantly) to increase profit margins, which leads to inflation. Because the Fed can manipulate short-term interest rates via the Federal Fund Rates they are able to somewhat control inflation. When interest rates are high the process is inverse to the one described above: people feel discouraged to borrow and spend money; instead they prefer to invest in a fixed income instrument such as high yield savings accounts, CD, or bonds to take advantage of the high yields. It is therefore the job of the Fed to keep inflation and interest rates in balance.
Although not everybody agrees, it is understood by economists in general that some inflation is good for economy because it encourages consumers to spend their money and debtors to pay their debt with money that is less valuable than when they borrowed it. Thus some inflation drives economic growth. One of these economists is John Maynard Keynes, who believed that if prices of consumer goods are continuously falling people hold off on their purchases because they think they will get a better deal later on (who doesn't like a good discount?).
Another important element that factors into inflation is how much liquidity is injected in the economy (cash, or money supply). More money would translate into more demand and rise in prices.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BOND PRICES, BOND YIELDS (or INTEREST RATES), and INFLATION
Bond prices and yields also have an inverse correlation: if the bond certificate price (AKA face value , or what the bond certificate is worth) increases the yield decreases and vice-versa. To make things simple and to better illustrate how bond prices and yields are related the example below uses what is known as ZERO-COUPON BOND, where the yield is derived from the relationship between the coupon payout and the bond face value (back in the day the bond certificate--a piece of paper--had small coupons that investors would rip off and present to the borrower to redeem their yields. That terminology is still used to this day although these coupons are not used anymore).
Example: if the bond price is $1,000 and the borrower receives $1,100 back at the end of one year, the so-called coupon rate (the yield paid for each bond certificate throughout the lifetime of the bond) is 10% . So the formula to find the coupon rate is: COUPON RATE = ANNUALIZED COUPON VALUE/BOND FACE VALUE; in this case, 100/1000, or 0.1. That formula helps to understand why the bond price and bond yield (coupon rate) have an inverse correlation. It is important to keep in mind that bond yields reflect genereal interest rates. Like interest rates they can move up or down
Like other asset classes such as options, a bond certificate holder can sell that certificate back to the market (known as secondary market). If the current bond yield is lower than when the bond holder "bought" their bond it may be interesting for them to consider selling it because it is now more valuable than when they bought it due to the inverse correlation discussed above. So for bond holders, decrease in interest rates is beneficial.
Hopefully it is also clear that a rise in inflation that results in higher interest rates affects bond holders negatively. Who would want to sell a bond that is now less valuable than when they bought it? However, higher bond yields are attractive to new bond investors because it gives them more return for their investment overtime.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE 10-YEAR TREASURY NOTES AND ITS YIELD
The government sells Treasury Bills/Notes/Bonds via auction. The yield of bonds is determined by investors' bids. The 10-year-yield's importance goes beyond the rate of return for investors; mortgage interest rates are derived from the 10-year yield for instance. But for the purpose of this text, it is important to understand that the market relies on the 10-year to gauge investors's confidence. Here we see another inverse correlation: if confidence is high, the 10-year yield rises and bond prices drop and vice-versa. Any change in the 10-year yield is closely watched by the markets and has enormous impact in other asset classes.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: BOND YIELDS, STIMULUS, EMPLOYMENT NUMBERS, STOCKS, AND THE FED
When Treasury bond yields rise bonds become an attractive investment because it is a safer than stocks--specially growth stocks where investors are placing their money on future success as opposed to present profits--since it is backed by the US government and provides fixed returns. While bond investors don't enjoy the big rallies of the stock market they also don't expose their capital to volatility and crashes.
With the reopening of the economy in clear sight due to vaccination, and the better than expected job reports investors started fearing higher inflation. That is a simple math: more people making money and out on the streets will boost consumption, which will lead to rise in prices. As explained before, higher inflation causes the Fed to adjustment interest rates, which causes bond prices to fall and yield to rise. Despite what Jerome Powell has said last week--that inflation rise is going to be temporary--investors didn't feel much confidence, which caused the recent sharp rise in the 10-year yield Treasury. With that, bonds became a good alternative to the stock market, causing investors to reallocate some of their capital into bonds. That and the fear caused by falling prices and the media (most of the media fuels panic--one month later everything is green again) resulted in the huge selloff we have seen the past weeks.
CONCLUSION
Phew, that was a lot. As I wrote on the preface of this text this is an overview of the subject matter so you can always read up on each one of the areas covered here to get more in-depth knowledge. However, I think this provides a good summary of what is going on on the markets right now. Hopefully you will have filled some gaps on your knowledge and will start making more sense of the interrelationship of the many aspects of economy covered here. This is a difficult subject to write about so I apologize if any idea is unclear. I can always clarify anything on the comments.
Bottom line: when things are clearer (inflation + interest rates) the markets will most likely stabilize and follow its due course. Growth stocks will continue growing (perhaps at a slower pace) and you will continue making good returns on good companies. I am using this selloff as an opportunity to lower my cost basis and enter positions in stocks that were too expensive before. Sometimes a pullback is all you were looking for even if you lose money in the short term. And hey, one can always buy put options to hedge against their long positions.
Good luck and safe trades!
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***The ideas shared here are my opinion, not financial advise to place trades. Please do your own research before buying/selling stocks***
FR US yields vs EURUSDInterest rates are crucial in the movement of currencies. The blue is EURUSD. Those things are not 100 percent correlated but it is something that needs to be paid attention to.
In this post I will demonstrate the relationship between French American bond yields (interest rates) differential and EURUSD.
We use 2 principal yields 2 yearly and 5 yearly composite differential.
As you see, once the yields differential hits the resistance or reversal level (here we use DeMark and Camarilla reversal levels) - there is a reaction in EURUSD. EURUSD keeps moving some 30 pips more (fakeout?) and then turns as well.
On weekly differential chart we see that the differential is at 0 level after a poor bullish breakout. There is also fractal pattern in play.
We also see DeMark monthly pivot squeeze on 60 min (DeMark squeeze predicts volatility and turns in the markets).
You may also use German yields instead of French ones - not much difference actually.
Both American and European yields are in their lowest levels. German ones dropped below 0.
The correlation: Bond yields indicate SPX CORRECTIONUS treasury yields and the S&P 500 have a positive correlation. The two usually move lockstep to a certain degree and when they diverge, they don't stay divergent for too long.
This time, however, at the beginning of 2019, the divergence occurred and has continued for nearly 12 months now.
The idea behind the correlation is that bond prices are typically inverse to the equity prices, due to the yield of bonds being related to the SPX.
From darkest blue to lightest: 30-year yield, 10-year, 5-year.
The area at which the divergence began, the S&P 500 gained over 25% while bonds fell about 35%. This leaves us with three alternatives.
1. The S&P 500 corrects 50% to catch down with the bond yields (least likely)
2. Bond Yields for the 30, 10 & 5Year all rally 50% (not likely)
3. The two meet somewhere in the middle. Meaning bond yields rally 15-25% or so, while the S&P 500 drops 10-15%. (a most likely scenario)