The US Treasury Market

Question A:

Foreign demand for US treasury securities results in substantially lower interest rates on these instruments.

Responses weighted by each expert's confidence

Question B:

The recent volatility in Treasury market prices is primarily due to concerns about US macroeconomic prospects.

Responses weighted by each expert's confidence

Question A Participant Responses

Participant University Vote Confidence Bio/Vote History
Campbell
John Campbell
Harvard
Agree
6
Bio/Vote History
It is hard to make sense of Treasury yields using traditional models of risk and return without invoking something like a "convenience yield" that reflects the special role of the US dollar and US Treasury securities in the global financial system.
Cochrane
John Cochrane
Hoover Institution Stanford
Disagree
8
Bio/Vote History
Demand curves slope down. Thus, a rightward shift in demand either increases quantity or raises price (lowers rate) depending on supply. It seems to me supply has shifted out to the point of greater quantity but not much lower rate.
Cornelli
Francesca Cornelli
Northwestern Kellogg Did Not Answer Bio/Vote History
Diamond
Douglas Diamond
Chicago Booth
Agree
5
Bio/Vote History
Du
Wenxin Du
HBS
Agree
8
Bio/Vote History
Duffie
Darrell Duffie
Stanford
Strongly Agree
10
Bio/Vote History
Foreign investors hold about one third of US Treasuries (TIC data). With no foreign demand, then domestic US investors would therefore need to hold 50% more. Domestic Treasuries investors are far from inelastic (Jansen, Li and Schmid), and yields would need to rise a lot!
-see background information here
Eberly
Janice Eberly
Northwestern Kellogg Did Not Answer Bio/Vote History
Fama
Eugene Fama
Chicago Booth
Agree
8
Bio/Vote History
Gabaix
Xavier Gabaix
Harvard
Agree
7
Bio/Vote History
Goldstein
Itay Goldstein
UPenn Wharton
Agree
6
Bio/Vote History
Graham
John Graham
Duke Fuqua
Strongly Agree
8
Bio/Vote History
Harvey
Campbell R. Harvey
Duke Fuqua
Agree
7
Bio/Vote History
Higher demand implies higher prices (lower yields). The trade deficit leads other countries to buy US treasuries. There is some uncertainty over what "substantial" means.
-see background information here
Hong
Harrison Hong
Columbia
Strongly Agree
8
Bio/Vote History
Jiang
Wei Jiang
Emory Goizueta Did Not Answer Bio/Vote History
Kaplan
Steven Kaplan
Chicago Booth
Agree
2
Bio/Vote History
Kashyap
Anil Kashyap
Chicago Booth
Strongly Agree
10
Bio/Vote History
Any policies to make it less convenient for foreign institutions to hold Treasuries will raise the yield. Speech below completely confuses the myriad benefits the US gets from being the reserve currency.
-see background information here
Koijen
Ralph Koijen
Chicago Booth Did Not Answer Bio/Vote History
Kuhnen
Camelia Kuhnen
UNC Kenan-Flagler
Strongly Agree
9
Bio/Vote History
Lo
Andrew Lo
MIT Sloan Did Not Answer Bio/Vote History
Lowry
Michelle Lowry
Drexel LeBow
Agree
6
Bio/Vote History
Ludvigson
Sydney Ludvigson
NYU
Strongly Agree
8
Bio/Vote History
Maggiori
Matteo Maggiori
Stanford GSB
Strongly Agree
10
Bio/Vote History
The US has an exceptionally high demand from foreigners for its most liquid safe dollar debt. High demand does push bond prices up and interest rates down
Matvos
Gregor Matvos
Northwestern Kellogg Did Not Answer Bio/Vote History
Moskowitz
Tobias Moskowitz
Yale School of Management
Strongly Agree
10
Bio/Vote History
Nagel
Stefan Nagel
Chicago Booth
Agree
7
Bio/Vote History
There is evidence that foreign safe asset demand contributes to the convenience yield of Treasurys (Jiang, Z., Krishnamurthy, A. and Lustig, H., 2018, May. Foreign safe asset demand for US treasurys and the dollar. AEA Papers and Proceedings).
Parker
Jonathan Parker
MIT Sloan
Strongly Agree
9
Bio/Vote History
Parlour
Christine Parlour
Berkeley Haas
Agree
8
Bio/Vote History
Philippon
Thomas Philippon
NYU Stern
Agree
8
Bio/Vote History
Puri
Manju Puri
Duke Fuqua
Agree
8
Bio/Vote History
Roberts
Michael R. Roberts
UPenn Wharton
Strongly Agree
7
Bio/Vote History
Sapienza
Paola Sapienza
Hoover Institution Stanford
Agree
8
Bio/Vote History
Seru
Amit Seru
Stanford GSB
Agree
7
Bio/Vote History
Stambaugh
Robert Stambaugh
UPenn Wharton
Agree
8
Bio/Vote History
Starks
Laura Starks
UT Austin McCombs
Agree
3
Bio/Vote History
I am not sure about the substantially but it contributes to lower interest rates.
Stein
Jeremy Stein
Harvard
Agree
8
Bio/Vote History
Stroebel
Johannes Stroebel
NYU Stern
Agree
5
Bio/Vote History
Titman
Sheridan Titman
UT Austin McCombs
Agree
6
Bio/Vote History
Van Nieuwerburgh
Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh
Columbia Business School
Agree
7
Bio/Vote History
foreigners have fairly inelastic demand for US Treasuries relative to other investors
-see background information here
-see background information here
Whited
Toni Whited
UMich Ross School
Agree
3
Bio/Vote History

Question B Participant Responses

Participant University Vote Confidence Bio/Vote History
Campbell
John Campbell
Harvard
Agree
6
Bio/Vote History
I agree that macroeconomic fears (of inflation on the one hand, and a recession on the other) are primary - although technical factors (unwinding of the Treasury basis trade) likely also play an important secondary role.
Cochrane
John Cochrane
Hoover Institution Stanford
Agree
6
Bio/Vote History
Well, nobody can really know why a market price moves - see Hayek. And sometimes there are short-lived "plumbing" issues. But my guess is that we are at last seeing the long-anticipated loss of faith in US fiscal institutions that lowers foreign demand for dollar & treasury debt
Cornelli
Francesca Cornelli
Northwestern Kellogg Did Not Answer Bio/Vote History
Diamond
Douglas Diamond
Chicago Booth
Disagree
5
Bio/Vote History
Du
Wenxin Du
HBS
Agree
8
Bio/Vote History
Duffie
Darrell Duffie
Stanford
Strongly Agree
10
Bio/Vote History
The largest recent macro-fundamental shocks are successive large changes in US government tariff plans and foreign responses. These have driven up volatility in yields (by about 50%), equity returns (VIX roughly doubled), and FX returns.
Eberly
Janice Eberly
Northwestern Kellogg Did Not Answer Bio/Vote History
Fama
Eugene Fama
Chicago Booth
Strongly Agree
9
Bio/Vote History
Gabaix
Xavier Gabaix
Harvard
Agree
4
Bio/Vote History
Goldstein
Itay Goldstein
UPenn Wharton
Uncertain
6
Bio/Vote History
Graham
John Graham
Duke Fuqua
Agree
6
Bio/Vote History
Harvey
Campbell R. Harvey
Duke Fuqua
Agree
8
Bio/Vote History
Degraded macroeconomic prospects: 1) primarily driven by large tax increase (tariffs); 2. Concern that inflation could rise again; 3. The challenge to the safe haven status of the US$ and treasuries leads to higher rates further increasing the alarming US debt service cost.
Hong
Harrison Hong
Columbia
Agree
8
Bio/Vote History
Jiang
Wei Jiang
Emory Goizueta Did Not Answer Bio/Vote History
Kaplan
Steven Kaplan
Chicago Booth
Agree
2
Bio/Vote History
Kashyap
Anil Kashyap
Chicago Booth
Uncertain
7
Bio/Vote History
Attacking the Fed and generating huge policy uncertainty has hurt stocks, the dollar and raised rates. But some of the fragility in the treasury market is due to the demands from asset managers and the reliance on levered investors to clear the market.
-see background information here
-see background information here
Koijen
Ralph Koijen
Chicago Booth Did Not Answer Bio/Vote History
Kuhnen
Camelia Kuhnen
UNC Kenan-Flagler
Strongly Agree
9
Bio/Vote History
Lo
Andrew Lo
MIT Sloan Did Not Answer Bio/Vote History
Lowry
Michelle Lowry
Drexel LeBow
Agree
6
Bio/Vote History
Ludvigson
Sydney Ludvigson
NYU
Uncertain
9
Bio/Vote History
Maggiori
Matteo Maggiori
Stanford GSB
Agree
1
Bio/Vote History
Hard to say without serious empirical analysis of the current episode. One worries that US policymakers are introducing uncertainty about basic policies and this might result in a persistent re-evaluation of dollar assets safety
Matvos
Gregor Matvos
Northwestern Kellogg Did Not Answer Bio/Vote History
Moskowitz
Tobias Moskowitz
Yale School of Management
Agree
9
Bio/Vote History
And policy uncertainty and global uncertainty.
Nagel
Stefan Nagel
Chicago Booth
Uncertain
7
Bio/Vote History
Aside from the (policy-induced) macro uncertainty there are a number of additional sources of uncertainty about fiscal policy and the trustworthiness of the US as a borrower that are likely also contributing to Treasury volatility
Parker
Jonathan Parker
MIT Sloan
Agree
7
Bio/Vote History
Parlour
Christine Parlour
Berkeley Haas
Agree
8
Bio/Vote History
Philippon
Thomas Philippon
NYU Stern
Uncertain
1
Bio/Vote History
Puri
Manju Puri
Duke Fuqua
Agree
8
Bio/Vote History
Roberts
Michael R. Roberts
UPenn Wharton
Strongly Agree
9
Bio/Vote History
Sapienza
Paola Sapienza
Hoover Institution Stanford
Agree
5
Bio/Vote History
other factors are at play too. If the Us president can easily upend the world order and easily change his mind every day, and if he threatens the independence of the FED or others, markets will not have a framework to form expectations. If randomness prevails, volatility will too
Seru
Amit Seru
Stanford GSB
Uncertain
5
Bio/Vote History
Stambaugh
Robert Stambaugh
UPenn Wharton
Strongly Agree
10
Bio/Vote History
Starks
Laura Starks
UT Austin McCombs
Disagree
4
Bio/Vote History
There are other factors as well.
Stein
Jeremy Stein
Harvard
Uncertain
6
Bio/Vote History
Stroebel
Johannes Stroebel
NYU Stern
Uncertain
1
Bio/Vote History
Titman
Sheridan Titman
UT Austin McCombs
Agree
6
Bio/Vote History
Van Nieuwerburgh
Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh
Columbia Business School
Agree
7
Bio/Vote History
very adverse fiscal news of $5trillion spending bill over 10 years moving forward in House and Senate subcommittees. Turns off all buyers, including and maybe more so foreigners. Amplified by unwind of the Treasury basis trade.
Whited
Toni Whited
UMich Ross School
Disagree
3
Bio/Vote History