How did you react to the stock market’s (defined, in my mind, as the S&P 500 index) recent precipitous drop? If you’re like many investors, you moved out of ‘risky’ assets such as stocks and into ‘safe’ assets such as money market funds and stable value funds. Unfortunately, the seeming safety of fixed income investments is a mirage… hidden forces, such as the danger of inflation, make ‘safe’ investments less safe than first glance. Paradoxically, the recent movement to safer portfolios has put many people at risk for a reduction in the real value of their money in inflation adjusted dollars.
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Using Treasury Bond Yields to Determine Economic Signs of Health
On September - 1 - 2009
As noted in a CNN article today, one way to gauge the market’s reading of current conditions is by reading the bond yields. Twice I’ve taken a look at how you can use Treasury Inflation Protected Securities plotted with the Daily Treasury Yield Curve to get a glimpse at the market’s inflation expectations (TIPS adjust their value due to CPI). Some other interesting ratios are presented, the treasury yield curve on its own, and the spread between junk bonds and government debt.
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