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Can someone or many explain this comment from David's July commentary

"U.S. Treasuries are a disaster. Treasuries have been propped up by international buyers, mostly Asia or OPEC, who needed to find something to do with their trillions of excess US dollars. The oil price collapse and a sputtering Chinese economy have pretty much put an end to such buying. Treasury yields could drop to European levels; that is, zero or below."


I don't get it;If treasury yields drop to European levels won't I make a reasonable capital gain on my treasury bonds

I can even market time by selling at 10 year yield = .5 and so get out before the "smart money" who is watching this stuff on an hourly basis/So the question is why are treasuries a disaster?

Comments

  • By the way the question sort of duplicates the thread called "July " but I think my title is better and I don't know how to edit it anyway
  • jerry said:

    By the way the question sort of duplicates the thread called "July " but I think my title is better and I don't know how to edit it anyway

    You are forgiven :P
  • edited July 2016
    Hmmm.

    Just to show my ignorance ... let me speculate a bit.

    If you are a global investor of debt, like Dr. Hasenstab, I suspect he's relaying how expensive US Treasuries are relative to rest of world because of the strength of US dollar.

    c
  • @jerry
    For your own post(s) and this in particular:
    ---Click on the title bar of this/your post
    ---at the top right corner of the post, only you, will see a dark colored "gear" icon
    ---click on the gear and then click the popup word "Edit"
    You are now able to edit, remove, add....etc. whatever; including changing the wording in the title line
    When you are finished with "Edit" click on the "SAVE" box icon to the left, just below the text area.
    You may do this as many times as needed.


    More to Mr. Hasenstab later......gotta do fireworks viewing.
    Regards,
    Catch
  • edited July 2016
    What oil price collapse? Up 17% YTD. Junk bonds as of Friday's close are at all time highs. Doesn't sound like end of the world stuff to me.
  • edited July 2016
    "More to Mr. Hasenstab later......gotta do fireworks viewing.
    Regards, Catch"

    :( And I was waiting for you to answer their question definitively.
    (The one about bonds)

  • @Junkster.
    Doesn't sound like end of the world stuff to me.
    Sometimes I think that when The Herd is telling us that Expected Returns on XXX are zero for foreseeable future, it's time to invest in XXX.

    Hope all is well.

    c
  • edited July 2016
    Hi @Mindy

    @jerry noted: "U.S. Treasuries are a disaster..." My take on this quote from Mr. Snowball's July commentary is the wording stated to Mr. Snowball from Mr. Hasenstab. If I am incorrect, someone please state otherwise.

    Disclosure: We were invested in Mr. Hasenstab's global bond fund for about 2.5 years, selling the holding in March, 2012.

    Selected bond reference total returns, March 2012 - July 1, 2016
    ---TPINX, +6.6%
    ---IEF, +16.6%
    ---HYG, +20.2%
    ---EMB, +23.8%
    ---TLT, +42.5%
    ---EDV, +62%

    As to the "Treasuries are a disaster", I would require a full explanation of the statement and to what time frame, past and/or present, from Mr. Hasenstab causes the disaster word. As Mr. Hasenstab has vastly more investment/economic studies versus my ongoing studies at Whats-a-matter U; I could only guess as to the decision making process for his investment choices. The presumption being that he is a dedicated value investor in the world of bonds. Not unlike Eric Cinnamon mentioned here recently searching for the ultimate values in the world of equity or whatever. Perhaps both managers have been sidetracked by the total dynamics of continued changes in the money flows of the global markets since the market melt. Sometimes it is difficult to deal with the "this time it is different".
    Although our house is still bond slanted, I am not a fan of how this low interest rate environment is going to resolve. Money borrowing is dirt cheap, and will likely continue to temp more buyout/takeover action (whether sensible or not); as well as affects on consumer borrowing/spending.
    However, until economies become more settled; I expect investment grade bonds to remain stable. The economies today are being pushed and shoved hard by politics and society in general.
    Flexible and adaptable perhaps do not always fit into a managers mold of what he/she views as "what should be"; versus the real outcomes.
    I suspect most here are really value investors. We want to buy cheap and sell at a higher price, yes? When the investment gears don't turn in the anticipated directions, value can become a sink hole.


    Johnny Lee (Urban Cowboy movie) sang:

    Lookin' for love
    I've spent a lifetime looking for you
    Single bars and good time lovers, never true
    Playing a fools game, hoping to win
    Telling those sweet lies and losing again.
    I was looking for love in all the wrong places
    Looking for love in too many faces
    Searching your eyes, looking for traces
    Of what.. I'm dreaming of...

    Love/lovers being the love of an investment relative to the topic here. Sometimes folks are so in love, that they don't see and leave a bad relationship.

    Regards,
    Catch
  • Waylon Jennings sang:

    Lookin' for love
    I've spent a lifetime looking for you
    Single bars and good time lovers, never true
    Playing a fools game, hoping to win
    Telling those sweet lies and losing again.
    I was looking for love in all the wrong places
    Looking for love in too many faces
    Searching your eyes, looking for traces
    Of what.. I'm dreaming of...

    Love/lovers being the love of an investment relative to the topic here. Sometimes folks are so in love, that they don't see and leave a bad relationship.

    Regards,
    Catch


    I must be in a nitpicking mood today. The song was # 1 on the country billboard sometime in 1980 and sung by Johnny Lee from the movie Urban Cowboy. Was it covered at some point by Waylon Jennings?
  • edited July 2016
    Hi @Junkster...............yup, tis Johnny Lee original artist. I performed an edit.
    I'll have to stick with Bolero and Ravel.:)

    Additionally, sincerely hope all is well in your world.
  • i also questioned this paragraph... the last sentence contradicts the first part.
    jerry said:

    "U.S. Treasuries are a disaster. Treasuries have been propped up by international buyers, mostly Asia or OPEC, who needed to find something to do with their trillions of excess US dollars. The oil price collapse and a sputtering Chinese economy have pretty much put an end to such buying. Treasury yields could drop to European levels; that is, zero or below."


    I don't get it;If treasury yields drop to European levels won't I make a reasonable capital gain on my treasury bonds

    ...

  • "the last sentence contradicts the first part"

    But I thought Catch explained it well.:)
  • @catch22 said

    Flexible and adaptable perhaps do not always fit into a managers mold of what he/she views as "what should be"; versus the real outcomes.
    I suspect most here are really value investors. We want to buy cheap and sell at a higher price, yes? When the investment gears don't turn in the anticipated directions, value can become a sink hole.

    FPACX. Not a sink hole .But certainly stuck in the mud.Mr Romick has consistently believed that Fed Policy has been in uncharted territory and will not end well.Eventually he may be correct,but in the meantime.....

    Morningstar Moderate Target Risk
    Rank in Category Ytd 95 1 Yr 78 3 Yr 77
    http://performance.morningstar.com/fund/performance-return.action?t=FPACX&region=usa&culture=en_US

    Will Brexit spark a much-needed market revaluation?
    Steven Romick
    Co-Portfolio Manager, FPA Crescent Fund
    June 28, 2016

    Even when investing in pockets of value, it doesn’t mean the rest of the world will immediately agree
    with you. That was evident recently with regards to our position in financials. As good of a value as we
    perceive them to be, the market sold them off in the wake of Brexit and that has contributed to our
    equity portfolio declining more than the market in this recent downturn. The financials we own have
    largely U.S. exposure and what business they conduct overseas is broad-based without disproportionate
    exposure to the UK. Nevertheless, their stock prices are volatile, causing our portfolio to do better than
    the market some days but worse on others. What happens on any given day doesn’t matter; what does
    matter is the businesses’ operating results while we own them and where these stocks are trading the
    day we sell them. We don’t know how they will ultimately perform along the way or in the end, but low
    valuations - combined with historically strong balance sheets – give us a margin of safety that will
    hopefully protect our capital and then provide a return on it.
    The Crescent Fund’s (the “Fund”) portfolio of value investments (both equities and debt) should provide
    downside protection in a severe market downturn. The relatively small market price decline since the
    Brexit vote is more market noise than anything else. The Fund’s 36% cash position provides additional
    protection in the portfolio and will be used when the inevitable opportunities arise to purchase good
    companies at cheap prices.
    http://www.fpafunds.com/docs/special-commentaries/brexit-special-commentary-6-28-2016_final.pdf?sfvrsn=2
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