CIFC's Horowitz: Volatility is nothing new in bond markets - so don't be afraid of it

Putting current market moves into perspective

The events in bond markets in recent days have sent a tremor through fixed income markets and caused increased volatility among equities, too. It is worth looking briefly at what has happened and putting it into historical context.

Since their record low of 0.51% last year, yields on 10-year Treasuries have moved to more than 1.6%. That is quite a haul - much of it in just over a week. Over the past six weeks, that has led to a price drop of roughly 5% for on-the-run 10-year Treasuries. With their average coupon yield at just 1%, you have a long way to go to recover that. Inevitably, this has had repercussions elsewhere. Since 10 February to the time of writing - five weeks - the US investment grade market is down 3.2%. It is always painful when so-called 'low-risk' bonds lose money - even more so when it happen...