German Interest Rates Go Negative
Courtesy of Sam Ro of Business Insider
The German bond market is considered one of the safe havens for investors looking to get out of riskier asset classes like stocks.
As tensions remain high on the Ukraine-Russia border, German bond prices have been rallying, pushing yields lower and lower.
Earlier Thursday, the yield on Germany's two-year bond actually went negative, touching -0.004%.
In other words, investors are effectively paying the German government to hold their money.
And it's not just geopolitical turmoil that has investors worried. Just this week, we learned Italy slipped into recession. In the past two days, German factory orders and industrial production reports unexpectedly turned negative, confirming fears of a slowdown in Europe's biggest economy.
New retaliatory sanctions from Russia on Thursday include a ban on food imports from the European Union.
So, there are a plenty of reasons why investor might flock to things like German bonds.
