Surging bond yields and hawkish comments from Chicago Federal Reserve president Charles Evans sparked another round of sharemarket selling on Tuesday as investors priced in 2.20 percentage points of rate hikes from the Fed over the remainder of this year.
In response, Wall Street traders sold growth stocks, in effect demanding greater compensation for the risk of capital loss from holding longer duration equities. The yield on risk-free US 10-year Treasuries jumped to a three-year high of 2.81 per cent on Tuesday. For bond traders, the capital markets rotation has sent yields on US 10-year Treasuries 130 basis points higher over 2022,This week, the 2.81 per cent yield on Chinese 10-year government debt offered the equivalent to US government debt for the first time since 2010, as investors fret over the impact of coronavirus-related lockdowns in China.
“They have higher inflation, but it’s driven by energy prices and that’s going to slow the economy down anyway,” Mr Sherwood said.