……as Bloomberg notes, “concern is growing that Europe’s bond markets are being “Japanified” — effectively shut down by a single, dominant buyer.” In the meantime we have hit a peak absurdity moment when even yields for nations that were effectively bankrupt less than a decade ago are trading at or below 0%, the level at which investors can no longer expect to generate a return by simply holding a bond to maturity. Just this week, Portugal’s 10-year yield fell below 0% for the first time while Italy’s is less than 0.6%.
