MacroScope

Are European bond investors looking for love in all the wrong places?

The premium bankers demand to hold various types of euro zone debt over that of Germany has recently come down. In normal circumstances, this might suggest markets are no longer discriminating between the risks associated with different member countries’ bonds. But analysts say the recent convergence is based on a precarious belief of ECB action rather than any real improvement in economic fundamentals.

Spain and Italy still offer a comfortable premium over Germany. But a narrowing in yield spreads that is being driven by a fall in the funding costs of Spain and Italy, rather than by a rise in German yields, gives reason for pause.

According to Lyn Graham-Taylor, fixed income strategist at Rabobank:

The fact there is almost no movement from Germany and a huge movement in peripherals is indicative to us of this convergence for the wrong reason.

If we were getting debt mutualisation and there was a convergence of yields for the right reasons then you would expect there to be a more meeting in the middle than there is.

Spanish and Italian yields have fallen more than 2 percentage points since ECB President Mario Draghi’s promise to protect the euro last year, while German borrowing costs have barely budged over the same period.

It wasn’t just the Nikkei. Euro zone government bonds rallied following Japan’s announcement of a massive new monetary stimulus. That sent yields on the debt of several euro zone countries to record lows on bets that Japanese investors might be switching out of Japanese government bonds into euro zone paper, or might soon do so.

The Bank of Japan on Thursday announced extraordinary stimulus steps to revive the world’s third-largest economy, vowing to inject about $1.4 trillion into the financial system in less than two years in a dose of shock therapy to end two decades of deflation.

Austrian, Dutch, French and Belgian borrowing costs over ten years fell to record lows as investors piled into euro zone debt offering a pick-up over Germany. The bond rally was led by 10- and 30-year maturities after the BOJ said it would double its holdings of long-term government bonds.

Italy’s borrowing costs over ten years drew closer to five percent after a decision by Prime Minister Mario Monti to step down early left the country’s political future unclear, hurting riskier euro zone debt.

Monti said on Saturday he would resign once the 2013 budget was approved, raising questions over who will take the reins of the euro zone’s third largest economy at a time when it remains a focus of the region’s three-year debt crisis.

His announcement, potentially bringing forward an election due early next year, came after former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s party withdrew its support for the government — and Berlusconi himself said he would run to become premier for a fifth time.

One trillion euros is a lot of money. And as we have previously noted on this blog it did a lot for stock markets early this year but not much for the real economy.

But recent bond auctions in the euro zone suggest the impact of two rounds of cheap 3-year ECB funding on the region’s struggling bond market may also be fading.

Italian three-year borrowing costs surged more than a full percentage point at an auction to 3.89 percent – its highest since mid-January.

It was not a good day for Spain.

The euro zone’s fourth largest economy had to pay dearer to borrow through medium-term bonds, a sign that concerns over the country´s fiscal problems was curbing appetite for its debt. It sold 2.6 billion euros of 2015, 2016 and 2020 paper – at the low end of the target range.

In contrast, Portugal’s 1 billion euros sale of 18-month treasury bills was a successful test of market appetite for the longest-dated debt since it took an international bailout. Appetite for short-dated paper has been especially supported by the one trillion euros of cheap three-year European Central Bank funding injected into the financial system since December.

The problem is that Spain is the latest country to come into the firing line of the euro zone debt crisis. This week’s tough budget was not enough to calm investor nerves and many fear too much austerity could choke an already struggling economy where unemployment rose to a staggering 22.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 – the highest in the European Union. Meanwhile, the government expects Spain’s public debt to jump in 2012 to its highest since at least 1990.

U.S. Treasuries have taken quite a battering this week, and there has been no shortage of explanations from market pundits. For some, the downturn reflects an improving economy and the pricing out of expectations for further monetary easing from the Federal Reserve. For others, the market is playing catch up after eyeing firmer inflation numbers and a better if still anemic employment backdrop.

The Fed’s statement this week lent itself to a hawkish interpretation since what few changes were made appeared positive. The bond market responded in kind, adding to a selloff that has seen ten-year note yields rise nearly 40 basis points in just over a week. George Goncalves at Nomura describes the price action:

U.S. Treasury yields had a seismic break and have finally moved this week, and boy did they move. The market blew through the range it had held for the past four months, our near-term targets and through several important technical levels, all in the space of two trading sessions.

Ever wanted to know why Germany is not keen on single euro zone bonds? Look no further:

The U.S. Treasury bond market may be in for a bit of a rollercoaster ride over the near term as each new day seems to bring another deluge of debt, with the government trying to clear out all it can before the holidays. The Treasury on Wednesday sold $13 billion of reopened 30-year bonds, and investors dove in to scoop up the debt even though yields are hovering near record lows. Wednesday’s sale was the third of seven debt sales over an eight-session period, in which the Treasury is expected to move a total of $177 billion of paper. The rush of paper could give Treasuries a shaking.

Priya Misra and Marcus Huie, strategists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said in a research note:

The next week could see some choppy price action in the Treasury market. And not just because of concerns about Europe. Treasury investors have to absorb a very heavy supply calendar over the next week. Normally supply across the curve is spread out over a month, but the Treasury moved up its end-of-month auctions to avoid auctioning in the holiday week. We believe that short positioning of investment funds and foreign demand should help absorb the supply, but the market will likely attempt to set up before each auction. This should result in greater intra-day volatility in Treasuries.

Stop fighting the Turkish central bank. Since a shock interest rate cut earlier this month, the front end of Turkey’s bond yield curve has collapsed over 80 basis points, with two-year yields hitting seven-month lows of 7.84 percent. The curve is flattening as the 10-year sector starts feeling the heat as well. Whether it reflects investors’ faith in the central bank’s ability to safeguard economic growth while bringing down a record wide current account gap is another matter altogether. Bond investors have in fact been uneasy with the central bank’s experiments, fearing that overly loose monetary policy will cause an inflation shock down the road. But with more rate cuts clearly on the cards, investors are finding that Turkish rates, especially at the front end, are too attractive to miss. Especially as the central bank is shoring up the lira with daily dollar sales.

“Its difficult to go against the central bank. It’s been six months of mixed policy and finally international investors are getting the message,” says Luis Costa, head of CEEMEA currency and debt strategy at Citi. “Logically you should be paying long-end rates but it’s a challenging environment for that as the central bank bank is forcing the curve to be extremely flat.”
Markets are now pricing in another interest rate cut next week. How will markets react? The difference from the surprise rate cut on Aug. 3  is that other emerging central banks, fearful of a growth collapse, also now appear to be gearing up for policy easing. A dimming euro zone outlook means a poor outlook for exports from Turkey and other emerging markets. “There’s some realisation that the Turkish central bank may not be all that wrong,” says Zsolt Papp, who helps manage Swiss private bank UBP‘s emerging debt portfolio.

Investors have in fact realised Turkey is not overly concerned about inflation and that allows it more room to ease policy, Papp says, adding the moves in the Turkish curve indicate that is being priced in. Citi’s Costa agrees. “Policy is now clearly being driven by growth and that’s a massive game changer.”

Reuters polls of economists over the last few weeks have come up with some pretty firm conclusions about both Ireland and Portugal needing a bailout from the European Union.

Portuguese 10-year government bond yields have hovered stubbornly above 7 percent since the Irish bailout announcement, hitting a euro-lifetime high and giving ammunition to those who say Lisbon will be forced into a bailout.

And of those who hold that view, it’s clear that bank economists have been most vocal in expecting Ireland and Portugal to seek outside help.