Of course, indicators can be wrong – but they should not be ignored. A flattening yield curve may be a result of long-term interest rates falling more than short-term interest rates or short-term rates increasing more than long-term rates. We serve the public by pursuing a growing economy and stable financial system that work for all of us. This curve, which relates the yield on a security to its time to maturity is based on the closing market bid yields on actively traded Treasury securities in the over-the-counter market. The curve is flattening, and if the Fed hikes short-term rates three more times in 2018, we could find ourselves with an inverted yield curve. Maybe investors are nervous about trade tensions and are buying Treasuries to hedge those risks. The fact that the 10-year yield is, so far, staying around 3 percent suggests that monetary policy, with a federal funds rate of 1.75 percent to 2.0 percent, is near neutral today. A bear steepener is the widening of the yield curve caused by long-term rates increasing at a faster rate than short-term rates. A flat yield curve simply means that the yield difference between short-term bonds and long-term bonds becomes small, or even negative. While we’ve given it a technical-sounding name, the truth is we don’t fully understand it. In the past year, Congress has enacted both a major increase in spending and a large tax cut, and the Federal Reserve has begun winding down its balance sheet. "If investors believe the Fed will stick to the peg, the Fed could achieve lower interest rates without significantly expanding its balance sheet. The “flattening yield curve” is back. Some say, “No. Continued better than expected outcomes are a … This is arguably the message from the Fed’s last policy meeting in which the Fed operationalized the new framework. So neither Fitch nor Yellen see the flattening yield curve as an ominous sign of anything other than exasperated NIRP refugees looking for a somewhat less gruesome alternative. The more the Fed signals its hawkishness, the greater are the chances for a flatter yield curve. This time is different. With YCC, the Fed would set a target rate for a bond with specific maturity and vow to buy as much as necessary to keep the rate there. I consider those the four most dangerous words in economics. Australia adopted a form of this policy in March when it set a target for the yield on 3-year Australian Government bonds of around 0.25%. Over the past two-and-a-half years, as the Federal Reserve has raised short-term interest rates, the yield curve has flattened dramatically, with the difference between 10-year and two-year Treasuries down from 134 basis points in December 2016 to 25 basis points today, a 10-year low. While the Federal Reserve normally uses short-term interest rates to manage the economy, yield curve control does that by targeting long-term rates. ET The virus and the measures taken to protect public health have induced sharp declines in economic activity and a surge in job losses. The Fed meant to send an aggressive signal to the markets. In a statement, the FOMC said, "The coronavirus outbreak is causing tremendous human and economic hardship across the United States and around the world. We now know the Great Recession followed that inversion. Percent change from previous month This suggests that there is little reason to raise rates much further, invert the yield curve, put the brakes on the economy and risk that it does, in fact, trigger a recession. The spread between the 2-year and 10-year yield has fallen negative before every single U.S. recession since 1970. The Tell Why the yield curve flattening — a recession red flag — is the ‘real deal’ Published: Dec. 15, 2017 at 8:40 a.m. With quantitative easing, the bank promises to buy large quantities of bonds, but with YCC it focuses on the price of bonds to flatten the yield curve. Deciphering the many signals from financial markets is not an exact science. More curve flattening in the near term appears likely, as trade tensions look set to intensify further, thus weighing on longer-term yields as the Fed keeps marching up the dot plot; however, I don’t expect a lasting inversion, as the yield curve will likely become part of the Fed’s reaction function once it … Weaker demand and significantly lower oil prices are holding down consumer price inflation.". However, 2021 is expected to show a 5% gain followed by 3.5% in 2022. The primary reason some policymakers argue that this time is different is because the “term premium” is low today, and so they argue that comparisons to past yield curve inversions are misplaced. Short-term yields have outpaced longer-term yields over the past few years, flattening the yield curve and raising concerns that U.S. economic progress may not be able to keep up with the Fed’s tightening. If the markets were expecting higher inflation or stronger real economic growth, that should be showing up as higher long-term bond yields. By September 2007, the Fed finally became concerned. A flat yield curve indicates that little difference, if any, exists between short-term and long-term rates for bonds and notes of similar quality. We provide the banking community with timely information and useful guidance. The yield curve stayed inverted until June 2007. If inflation expectations or real growth prospects pick up, the Fed can always raise rates then. Monetary policy refers to the actions undertaken by a nation's central bank to control money supply and achieve sustainable economic growth. This additional supply should be putting downward pressure on Treasury prices, driving yields up. In fact, during this half-century period, each time the yield curve has inverted, a recession has followed. This time is different,” and that the flattening yield curve is not a concern. I sure wouldn’t. (see chart below) "We fully expect that the Fed will be as dovish as necessary to avoid a mini "taper-tantrum," keeping the peak-virus trade nicely on track," wrote OANDA analyst Jeffrey Halley this morning. If I said this time is different because the residual is low, would you be willing to risk a recession on that hunch without clear evidence that inflation expectations are rising above target? A flattening curve can spur worries about an economic slowdown. The flattening yield curve is thus a leading indicator of an economic downturn within the next 2-3 years. Yield curves are usually upward sloping asymptotically: the longer the maturity, the higher the yield, with diminishing marginal increases (that is, as one moves to the right, the curve flattens out).. Q8. This is the same argument some policymakers made in late 2006 to explain why they didn’t worry about the then-inverted yield curve. For the past 50 years, an inverted yield curve, where short rates are higher than long rates, has been an excellent predictor of a U.S. recession. The recent moves in the U.S. yield curve do not reflect any change, actual or forward looking, in the Fed’s extremely accommodative monetary policy stance. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis: Pursuing an Economy that works for all of us. ", https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20200610a.htm, Investopedia uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. Description: We use past values of the slope of the yield curve and GDP growth to provide predictions of future GDP growth and the probability that the economy will fall into a recession over the next year. Is the flattening yield curve telling us a recession is around the corner? Fed Officials Debate Signal From Flattening Yield Curve: Is This Time Different? The Fed also projected that the economy will shrink 6.5% in 2020, as businesses have laid off tens of millions of workers and industrial and manufacturing activity ground to a halt. There are two common explanations for upward sloping yield curves. These market yields are calculated from composites of indicative, bid-side market quotations (not actual transactions) obtained by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York at or near 3:30 PM each trading day. Determine the composition on the expected holding period return on a bond offering an annual coupon rate of interest of 14 per cent that matures five years from now. The total assets on its balance sheet crossed $7 trillion for the first time last month. Today, policymakers are paying increased attention to the so-called flattening yield curve—the difference in yields between long-term and short-term Treasury bonds. Yet the 10-year yield has increased remarkably little, to 2.83 percent today. But declarations that “this time is different” should be a warning that history might be about to repeat itself. The yield curve is flat and bonds of all maturities offer yields to maturity of 6 per cent. The truth is we don’t know for sure. Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said in March policy makers are "thinking very hard" about YCC. And folks hoping the Fed will use the flattening yield curve as an excuse to back off from further rate hikes will likely be disappointed. By using Investopedia, you accept our, Investopedia requires writers to use primary sources to support their work. There's been increasing speculation that the central bank will use yield-curve control (YCC) or interest rate caps for the first time since the 1940s to clampdown on rising Treasury security rates/yields and keep borrowing costs low for businesses and consumers. Gap between short- and longer-term Treasury yields has fallen to levels last seen in 2007 "Interest rate pegs theoretically should affect financial conditions and the economy in many of the same ways as traditional monetary policy: lower interest rates on Treasury securities would feed through to lower interest rates on mortgages, car loans, and corporate debt, as well as higher stock prices and a cheaper dollar," wrote Brookings economists. With quantitative easing, the bank promises to buy large quantities of bonds, but with YCC it focuses on the price of bonds to flatten the yield curve. A humped yield curve is a relatively rare type of yield curve that results when the interest rates on medium-term fixed income securities are higher than the rates of both long and short-term instruments. It is the extra returns investors often demand to hold a long-term bond versus a series of short-term bonds. For example, at … 54% of economists surveyed by Bloomberg believe this tactic will be on the table in September, but we may hear hints about it today. The Bank of Japan is the only major central bank to have experimented with interest rate pegs in recent history, according to think tank Brookings, and it has purchased far lower quantities of government bonds since then. Fed expected to keep interest rates steady at near zero, First quarterly economic projections for 2020 on tap, Investors look for interest rate guidance, stimulus update. For the past 50 years, an inverted yield curve, where short rates are higher than long rates, has been an excellent predictor of a U.S. recession. We don’t know. All of these factors increase the supply of Treasury bonds that the private markets must hold. Agency MBS Purchase typically refers to the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy of purchasing certain government-backed securities. Choppy trade at the long end of the yield curve ultimately left the benchmark 10-year yield roughly flat on the day, last at 0.920%. The story took a breather when longer-term interest rates jumped during the first quarter. Maybe because the Fed’s expanded balance sheet is holding it down. You can learn more about the standards we follow in producing accurate, unbiased content in our. The curve is said to be steep if short yields are much lower than long yields, flat if they are similar, and inverted if short yields are higher than long yields. It was a half point, which was a significant drop. As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) left interest rates unchanged and implied it would keep them there into 2022, as the economy tries to recover from the recession brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Sign up for emails to get the latest news, research, and information from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. An inverted yield curve is the interest rate environment in which long-term debt instruments have a lower yield than short-term debt instruments. Yield curves sometimes flatten on the way to inversions, which tend to precede recessions. The general direction of the yield curve in a given interest-rate environment is typically measured by comparing the yields on two- and 10-year issues, but the difference between the federal funds rate and the 10-year note is often used as a measurement as well. We examine economic issues that deeply affect our communities. It lowered the fed funds rate to 4.75%. The Yield Curve Is Flattening. If the Fed continues raising rates, we risk not only inverting the yield curve, but also moving to a contractionary policy stance and putting the brakes on the economy, which the markets are indicating is at this point unnecessary. The yield curve compares short government bond yields (anywhere from the Fed Funds rate to 2-year bonds) to long yields (10-year or 30-year bonds). However, in combination with low inflation (actual and expected), such actions have translated into persistently low real interest rates at both the yield curve’s long and … Throughout the summer, it flip-flopped back and forth, between an inverted and flat yield curve. We strive to advance policy that promotes economic well-being. The yield curve looks pretty good. Today, policymakers are paying increased attention to the so-called flattening yield curve—the difference in yields between long-term and short-term Treasury bonds. A flattening yield curve is often a feature of a rising rate environment. 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