Global equities and government bond price remained under pressure on Friday, following comments from Federal Reserve chairman Jay Powell.
Bond prices have been sliding in the opening weeks of this year, in a move that has accelerated in the past two weeks. Some analysts and investors had expected Powell to use his slot at an event hosted by The Wall Street Journal on Thursday to lend some at least verbal support to the market, perhaps even signalling a willingness formally to hold yields down.
Instead, while he said the recent pick-up in yields — the flip side of falling prices — was “notable”, and that the US central bank would be “patient” in the face of a temporary rise in inflation, he gave no sense of immediate alarm. Yields on 10-year US Treasuries jumped 0.07 percentage points to 1.55 per cent on Thursday, and remained in that area in Europe on Friday.
“It looks like words are not enough,” said Joost van Leenders, senior investment strategist…