More investors are using exchange traded funds to express the view that interest rates will rise, although yields on the 10-year Treasury note remain stubbornly low at around 2%.
Recent activity in bond ETFs shows some investors are positioning to profit if U.S. Treasury yields rise and bond prices decline. [Inverse Treasury ETFs]
ProShares UltraShort Barclays 20+ Year Treasury (NYSEArca: TBT) and Direxion Daily 20 Year Plus Treasury Bear 3X Shares (NYSEArca: TMV) are leveraged inverse ETFs that rise when bond prices fall. They are designed as trading vehicles rather than buy-and-hold products. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Doug Kass, president of Seabreeze Partners Management, at TheStreet earlier this week wrote that he was “all-in” ProShares UltraShort Barclays 20+ Year Treasury.
He cited several factors for the move, including his view that the flight to safety that has lifted U.S. Treasuries is “likely maturing and in its terminal phase.”