Switzerland isn’t alone in going negative. The yield on short-term government bonds of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands are all sub-zero. Even short duration U.S. bond rates are barely above zero.
The Swiss central bank is trying to get people to spend and invest more instead of putting their money in the bank or in cash-like assets like short-term government bonds, but investors just keeping buying up these safe haven assets, sending yields even lower.
“The whole move is shocking. You have to take out a microscope to see the yields on a lot of this paper,” said Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group. “People are strangely willing to pay for liquidity.”
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