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Posts Tagged ‘bond market performance’

Portfolio Construction

November 18th, 2020 by Kurt L. Smith

With the crescendo of all US Treasury yields to trading below 1% in early March marking the high-water mark for bond prices, the need to revisit how portfolios are constructed has emerged. Is the traditional 60% stocks/40% bond model dead?

This may indeed be a worthwhile question to explore but it is the underlying assumption or the underlying narrative of a stock/bond mix that warrants examination. For decades scholars of portfolio management theory ran studies after studies showing how a mix of assets, even as simple as stocks and bonds, can lower the risk and improve returns of non-diversified portfolios.

With the advent of computers in investing and something as relatively simple as a pie chart, investors could “see” how they were invested. When stocks swooned in 2000 and 2007, yes, diversification worked as advertised…just look at the results!

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Bonds Rolled Over (Again)

November 18th, 2019 by Kurt L. Smith

From the front pages this summer, the story on bonds is they are no longer a story. Prices have rolled over as yields have risen and investors who bought on the price dips lately may be rethinking their commitment.

I have spent most of the last few years, as well as the last few months telling you this was the end of the run, not the beginning of a new one. The performance of the bond market over these years fits my description.

After several years of higher yields and lower bond prices, the bond market began a price correction late last year. But it was the performance of long-term treasury bonds in July and August of this year that received the out-sized attention. One of the longest treasury bonds, the 2.875% of 2049, rallied from about 100 in May, to 105 in July and 122 in August (source: Bloomberg, with prices rounded for conversation sake). Quite a move for a bond yielding less than 3%.

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Size Matters

May 6th, 2019 by Kurt L. Smith

Through much of my career in the bond market bigger truly was better. Nobody was bigger or better than Bill Gross of PIMCO. His bond fund was mammoth and if you had something worthwhile to sell, one call to Big Bill was all that was needed to get the deal done. He was legend, true or not.

Big Bill also had quite a tail wind. As the bond bull market began to gather momentum in the early 1980’s, Big Bill was ready. He knew performance would drive growth in assets and he knew the kinds of bonds that would perform well. His record speaks for itself.

During a bull market there should be little reason to sell. I am sure Big Bill culled some of his mistakes from his portfolios through the years, but largely one can buy and hold and never need to sell. Worthwhile performance led to growing assets and more funds available. Eventually the bond matures and this will only add to the money he continued to attract for decades.

Scaling from a small operation to a multi-trillion dollar behemoth, Big Bill and PIMCO, had a plan and executed it. He is more than worthy of the title Bond King. Needless to say his success has been studied and will continue to be studied as a great success in money management.

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Treasuries Tank; Any Followers?

June 1st, 2018 by Kurt L. Smith

When it comes to interest rates you know we rejected the “lower rates for longer” mantra from the beginning. Largely this was due to the fact that we believed interest rates were bottoming and the new long-term trend of ever increasing rates, which we called in November 2012, was just beginning.

The chart below details significant interest rates over the past five-plus years of our journey. Longer-term rates on ten year and thirty year notes and bonds challenged our premise briefly in 2016, allowing the “lower rates for longer” mantra to swell, but the results, or shall I say, performance, speaks for itself.

 

All-Time Low Yield            June 2017  Low                       Recent High

0.14%      9/20/11                1.26%    6/2/17                   2.60%    5/17/18

0.53%      7/25/12                1.67%    6/14/17                2.95%    5/17/18

1.32%      7/6/16                   2.10%    6/14/17                3.13%    5/18/18

2.09%     7/11/16                 2.68%    6/26/17                3.26%    5/18/18

-Source: Bloomberg

 

Owners of ten year US Treasuries in July 2016 have watched the yield on their note increase an astonishing 181 basis points, for a 13 percent price decline in the note’s value (vis-à-vis the Treasury 1.625% 5/15/26). For owners of the bellwether thirty year bond, the 117 basis point increase in yield has lowered the bond’s value about 23 percent (vis-à-vis the Treasury 2.50% 5/15/46).  All treasury prices per Bloomberg.

Double digit loses in longer-term treasury prices over the past two years are huge. Yet even at the most recent high yields lately of 2.60% to 3.26%, they continue to look low by historical standards.  With double digit price damage occurring at what many folks consider “low yields,” it should prepare bond investors for continued and greater carnage as yields continue their (so far) slow movement to more “normal” interest rates. (more…)

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