"Analysts and fund managers say the Treasury sell-off was primarily powered by a retrenchment of investors from the US government bond market, fearful that tariffs would fuel inflation and unnerved by what some say is an increasingly erratic administration that has antagonised allies and imperilled the country’s own economy.

However, many stress that the turmoil was also exacerbated by highly leveraged hedge fund strategies. These “relative-value” trades usually seek to take advantage of often tiny differences in prices between Treasury bonds and various derivatives contracts linked to them. Using short-term funding markets to borrow extreme amounts of money, they can transform small profits into large ones.

These trades have helped turn the club of big hedge funds that pursue them into vital pillars of the $29tn Treasury market, helping restrain the US government’s borrowing costs at a time when interest rates have been rising. Their importance is only likely to climb if foreign investors pull back from the Treasury market, as many analysts and fund managers predict.

However, many fear that they also make Treasuries vulnerable to sudden shocks."

https://www.ft.com/content/0bf5bcc2-6ff1-4309-afbf-f470250a4721

#USA #Trump #Tariffs #TreasuryMarket #HedgeFunds #PublicDebt