Stock and U.S. Treasury ETFs often move in opposite directions, but that hasn’t been the case this week.
For example, SPDR S&P 500 (NYSEArca: SPY) and iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund (NYSEArca: TLT) were both in the green on Thursday afternoon, which is a bit unusual the past few years during and after the credit crisis.
In Tuesday’s deep stock sell-off, the Treasury ETF also lost ground.
The correlation between SPY and TLT this week has some technical analysts scratching their heads because they usually move in separate directions. They’re not sure which asset class is telling the truth: stocks or bonds.