something very odd happened in a
peculiar corner of the markets in the
opening days of this month very long
dated Swiss bond yields came out of the
freezer for almost a whole week the
yields on the country's 2058 bonds
actually poked above zero percent
investors got a return for buying them
amazing stuff this is of course how bond
markets are supposed to work but we live
in extraordinary times and fully 13
trillion dollars or so of bonds around
the world yield less than nothing which
means investors effectively pay to own
them now don't panic those Swiss yields
swiftly return back to below zero back
to the new normal but this isn't the
only pocket of the bond markets showing
some cracks UK yields have picked up
from the record lows they've seen
recently as the drip drip of decent UK
economic news forces a brighter rethink
on what the country might look like
after the EU referendum even Japanese
10-year yields are inching back up
towards zero so of these Canaries in the
coal mine since 2008 investors have been
on high alert for the next big crisis
and a serious shake-up of the bond
market is a possibility that keeps many
awake at night particularly as memories
of the mini blow up in German buns last
year are still fresh in the mind what if
inflation recovers more importantly what
if inflation expectations recover what
if whisper it fiscal stimulus kicks in
and generates some proper global growth
but these are all seriously big IFS and
are nice problems to have for now the
attitude is show me the money and more
importantly show me a Fed that's
smoothly raising interest rates flickers
of the good old days with bonds that
really yielded something will come and
go but most investors are resigned to
super low yields for weeks and months to
come