(Bloomberg) -- Global bonds rallied Friday with investors seeking havens from a tech stock sell-off and concern over increased U.S.-Russia tension.
Australian bonds led the charge with 10-year yields dropping as much as 9 basis points to 1.91%. Benchmark Treasury yields fell as much as four basis points to 1.77% after the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index fell into a correction.
The yen climbed and the dollar strengthened against its major peers. Asian shares fell amid the risk-off sentiment and the Australian and New Zealand dollars retreated.
“We see the rally in bonds today as a function of stretched investor positioning, and some global risk-off due to continuing U.S.-Russia tensions around Ukraine, and as reflected in sharply weaker equity markets,” said Andrew Ticehurst, a rates strategist at Nomura Inc.
Global bonds are on track for their worst January since 2009, as speculation builds that the Federal Reserve could deliver more than a quarter-percentage point rate hike in March and then move to trim its balance sheet. But risk assets have stumbled too as investors baled out of expensive growth stocks with U.S. benchmarks bearing the brunt of the selloff.
Meanwhile, tensions over Ukraine are ramping up before a meeting scheduled for today in Geneva between the top U.S. diplomat and Russia’s foreign minister. President Joe Biden said Russia will “pay a heavy price” if any of its forces move across the border into Ukraine after earlier suggesting Western allies might struggle to react to a small-scale attack.
Biden Draws Line at Russian Troops Crossing Ukraine Border
Nasdaq futures extended declines Friday as Netflix Inc. shares dropped in after-hours trading on disappointing earnings forecasts.
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