One of the investment surprises of 2014 so far has been the rebound
in government bonds as equities and emerging markets wobbled and
Ukraine-related geopolitics conjured up a safety bid in core debt
holdings such as U.S. Treasuries and German bunds.
The move wrongfooted many. Historically expensive government bonds,
with record low yields, had been labeled 'toxic' by some strategists
as they eyed recovering economies, waning systemic threats and a
renewed appetite for equity.
But the big driving force this year has been subdued or even
evaporating headline inflation that has sustained or even enhanced
inflation-adjusted returns on fixed income securities, even as the
recovery of underlying economies continued apace.
As euro zone inflation sank below 1 percent, European government
bonds across the core and periphery of the bloc pushed higher and
were then supercharged by signals from the European Central Bank it
might cut interest rates or even embark on some form of asset
purchase scheme as soon as next month.
Take Ireland as an example.
Economists at Brown Brothers Harriman point out that annual
inflation fell to just 0.4 percent last month from a peak of 2.6
percent in August 2012. That's a decline some 80 basis points bigger
than the 140 bp drop in Ireland's 10-year bond yield over the same
period - leaving real yields higher than two years ago.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/May/14/images/ads/current/lincoln_heating_sda_daily_042514.png)
"As fast as bond yields have been falling, so too has inflation,
meaning that real yields have maintained their value," said Tanguy
Le Saout, Head of European Fixed Income, Pioneer Investments.
Despite more brisk underlying recoveries, U.S. and British inflation
rates too have fallen below or remained well under the stated or
notional 2 percent central bank targets.
For many, this inflation story is no fluke and frames the world
economic and investment outlook for years to come.
The latest 3-5 year outlook sketched by the world's biggest bond
manager Pimco tweaked the firm's long-standing 'New Normal' view of
slow growth and low returns into a 'New Neutral' period of
"exceedingly low" official interest rates over time.
The gist, and one that echoes former U.S. Treasury chief Larry
Summers' idea of 'secular stagnation', is that official interest
rates will not return to pre-crisis norms in a way that financial
markets still assume they will over the coming years.
Zero percent neutral real policy rates for many developed and even
some emerging countries will be the investment outcome.
"If the future resembles those neutral policy rates, then the
investment implications are striking," Pimco's Bill Gross told
clients. "Low returns yet less downside risk than investors
currently expect; an end to bull markets as we've known them, but no
perceptible growling from bears."
CREEPING PRICES?
The view catches the zeitgeist of 2014 so far, even if you might
expect a bond-friendly view from a bond fund manager that had
investors pull $82 billion from its funds since last June.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/May/14/images/ads/current/business_directory_filler.png)
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/May/14/images/ads/current/graue_2014_Spark_042814.jpg)
But after a torrid 2013, all bond categories have rallied.
Year-to-date returns on everything from 10-year U.S. Treasuries to
German bunds, global high-grade and junk corporate debt or even hard
currency emerging market bonds are between 4 and 7 percent. Italian
government bonds are up 10 percent.
And all outperformed the 3.4 percent gain on the S&P500 of leading
Wall St stocks.
So is inflation really as dead as that appears to suggest?
There's certainly been no sign of the galloping price rises that
some feared would be stoked by successive bouts of money printing.
Still substantial slack in labor markets and spare capacity in
economies at large suggests little pressure by way of wage
inflation.
But with bonds priced for such extraordinarily low inflation for
years to come, the risk is then just a return to normal.
And with U.S. consumer price inflation expected to have topped 2
percent last month for the first time in 18 months, there's more
than a murmur to worry buoyant bonds.
State Street's proprietary PriceStats survey of U.S. online prices
also shows inflation at a brisk monthly clip of 0.35 percent in May.
"The weakness of Q1 GDP will cast doubt over the strength of the
recovery, but online retailers do not seem to have such doubts," it
said. "Their pricing remains consistent with solid demand
conditions."
A debate about the speed of wage rises is also heating up.
Barclays economist Dean Maki said growth in U.S. average hourly
earnings for production and non-supervisory workers rose 2.3 percent
in the year to April, up from a trough of 1.3 percent in October and
at a level in prior cycles that equated to a jobless rate of 5.4
percent - not the current 6.3 percent.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/May/14/images/ads/current/peasley%20lda%20080907.png)
And in Europe too, the inflation swoon could well have run its
course. Pioneer's Le Saout said inflation forecasts for the
remainder of 2014 show slow rises towards 1 percent and above and
core inflation is already at that level.
"Inflation is low but has probably rock-bottomed," said Marion Le
Morhedec, senior portfolio manager at AXA Investment Managers.
(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |