It’s been a harrowing 12 months for global bond investors, culminating in a fall into a rare bear market. And there are few signs of a reprieve soon.
Government debt has been the worst hit, given a sizable chunk of the market was offering negative yields a year ago. The stockpile of notes with sub-zero yields exceeded $15 trillion then, with investors paying to hold 10-year German bunds and Japanese bonds, along with two-year Italian securities. Bonds denominated in European currencies have underperformed in 2022 after the continent’s energy crisis increased the odds of a recession. Large swings in currency markets, driven by the highest inflation in decades in many nations, have compounded losses for investors tracking a dollar portfolio.