FYI: Following two years of risk-on market fervor, 2018 delivered a reality check to bond investors.
Even with new leadership, the Federal Reserve continued to raise short-term interest rates and simultaneously pared back its quantitative-easing-inflated balance sheet; both were efforts to normalize monetary policy while U.S. economic data appeared strong. A strengthening dollar, escalating U.S. trade-policy fears, and myriad geopolitical tensions further rattled markets at points throughout the year, which ended with a meager single-basis-point return for the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.morningstar.com/articles/907141/bond-funds-endure-a-year-of-economic-anxiety.html
