The US and China may be far apart on disputes over trade and investment, but when it comes to bond yields the two sides are moving closer.
US 10-year Treasury yields crossed above the 3 per cent barrier this week for the first time since 2014, but yields on comparable Chinese government bonds have been moving in the opposite direction amid some subtle easing moves by China’s central bank and signs of a slowing economy.
After the People’s Bank of China last week cut the required reserve ratio — the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves — the Chinese 10-year briefly fell as low as 3.5 per cent. That cut the gap with Treasuries to a seven-year low of just over half a percentage point.