With US stock market indices across the capitalization spectrum at or above all-time highs, US Treasury yields have been grinding higher. Since early August, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury has risen from an all-time low of 0.51% to 0.9%, forcing long-term US Treasury prices down over 7% since then according to the Bloomberg Barclays Long Term US Treasury Price Index. US stock prices have been rallying due to the announcements of highly effective COVID-19 vaccine trials, building economic momentum, clarity developing in the US political landscape and resilient as well as improving corporate fundamentals. We expect US interest rates will continue to normalize to pre-pandemic levels in coming quarters and that will likely keep downward price pressure on long term Treasuries. We expect this to be gradual given that comparable sovereign rates in Europe and Asia remain much lower or even negative. Overall conditions should be supportive for equities heading into 2021 even in the face of higher US Treasury yields. [chart courtesy Bloomberg LP © 2020]
