Race for Negative 30-Year Yields Underway, Swiss In Front With 0.295%; Futility of Draghi's Upcoming QE

As of the end of Monday January 19, 2015, European 10-year yields are as follows:

• Germany 10-Year bond yields 0.441%
• France 10-Year bonds yields .641%
• Spain 10-Year bonds yields 1.526%
• Switzerland  10-Year bonds yield -0.074%

At least the first three are positive.

Congratulations (of sorts) to Switzerland for winning the race to negative yields on 10-year government bonds.

As of today, you can pay Switzerland 0.074% for the privilege of lending to the Swiss government for 10-years.

It was a hard-fought battle, but last week in response to the euro peg removal, Swiss 10-Year Govt Bond Yield Goes Negative for First Time Ever.

Last week was the first time that the benchmark borrowing costs of a developed economy's government has gone negative for a 10-year duration.

Swiss LIBOR Hits Record Low -0.72 Percent

Inquiring minds may be wondering about short-term bank-to-bank lending. If you are in that group, please consider Swiss LIBOR Hits Record Low -0.72 Percent

The three-month benchmark Swiss bank-to-bank Libor lending rate fell to a record low of minus 0.372 percent on Thursday after the Swiss National Bank cut interest rates and abandoned its cap on the franc.

The SNB cut the interest rate by 0.5 percentage points to 0.75 percent on sight deposit account balances -- cash commercial banks and other financial institutions hold with the central bank -- above a certain threshold.

also expanded its three-month Libor target range to -1.25 percent and -0.25 percent from the previous range of -0.75 percent to 0.25 percent.

Blue Ribbons Galore

Switzerland is racking up blue ribbons left and right. It was also the winner in the race to negative yields on the 5-year bond.

But the granddaddy prize of all still awaits: The blue ribbon for negative yields on the 30-year bond.

As preposterous as that may sound, Switzerland is headed that way.

30Yr Swiss Bond



click on chart for sharper image

Yes indeed folks, you can lend money to the Swiss government for 30 years at 0.381%, knowing full well the inflation target is 2.0%.

At one point today, the Swiss 10-year bond fell as low as 0.295%.

Japan is in second place. It's well behind in this dubious race to zero with a 30-year yield of 1.075%.

Germany is in a very close second-third place race with a 30-year yield of 1.120%. In contrast, the US offers an "exceptional value" of 2.446% for 30 years.

Futility of Draghi's Upcoming QE

Such is the absolute madness of central bank policy. Yet, ECB president Mario Draghi (and many others) actually believe the ECB can fix things by driving yields still lower!

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

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