Quote from CoolTrader:
If you look at yield chart, the current yield's still at the same low level as March 2004, when the Fed hadn't started to raise rate. This makes me really puzzled. Could anyone explain? Thanks.
You got it right in your next post. Fed controls short-term interest rates through open market operations. 10Y yields are more or less determined by the market price. What I don't understand is why everybody thinks that the long-term bonds have to drop. The alternative scenario is that long-term yields stay where they are right now, while short-term rates will keep rising. As a result we may see the flat or inverted yield curve, which will be an indication of a recession ahead.
The problem is that the Fed have been advertising higher interest rates for a long time, and they have been persuading the banks to stop playing duration mismatch game (financing long-term assets with short-term liabilities). However it seems that a lot of banks did not get the message, and did not rebalance their balance sheets.
If the yield curve starts to flatten, it may be a good trade to short certain banks, but picking the right ones will require some digging through the financial statements.
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