5 drivers of the bond market meltdown

Bloomberg reports there are five key drivers of the recent bond market sell off (illustrating each with a chart). 1) The oil market – bonds were a favourite place to benefit from oil’s collapse. 2) Inflation – “Inflation in the euro zone stopped falling last month after going negative at the end of last year”. 3) European growth – “The early signs of inflation and positive economic growth coming out of Europe is causing increased optimism the currency bloc may actually pull out of its funk.” 4) Positioning – “Too many people were invested too heavily in bonds. Data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission show investors started 2015 with the biggest bet on U.S. government bonds in seven years. By the end of the first quarter, more than half that position was gone.” 5) Sub-zero yields – “The average yield across all Germany's debt went negative about three weeks ago. That seems to have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Since then that average yield has climbed to the highest level this year”. (VIEW LINK)