PrefBlog

There’s an interesting claim of regime switching in stock-bond correlations:

Based on his analysis of data over the past 20 years, the tipping point is a yield of about 4 per cent.

When the 10-year government bond yield is below that threshold, bond yields and the S&P/TSX composite index tend to move together, with a positive correlation of 0.49, strategist with UBS Securities Canada] Mr. [George] Vasic found. That’s to be expected, because very low bond yields are usually associated with sluggish or recessionary conditions, and when the economy starts to improve, yields and stocks both rise.

However, when bond yields are between 4 per cent and 6 per cent, stocks and bond yields tend to move in opposite directions, with a correlation of negative 0.56. In other words, when yields are already high and climbing, the stock market starts to feel the brunt of rising interest rates. (A correlation of 1 represents a perfect positive relationship, while negative 1 indicates a perfect inverse relationship.)

One thing that is well known is that correlation signs reverse in times of financial stress; it’s unclear whether this is anything new.

Prices slid somewhat in the Canadian preferred share market today, with PerpetualDiscounts down 7bp, FixedResets losing 6bp and DeemedRetractibles off 8bp. Volatility was low, with only one issue in the Performance highlights. Volume was heavy.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 17th, 2011 at 11:03 pm and is filed under Market Action. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.