Bank of America write “the U.S. rates market appears torn between two opposing themes: 1) deteriorating sentiment & downside growth risks, and 2) stable hard data & sticky inflation”.
- They note that “yields have repriced lower to reflect higher downside growth risks from tariff uncertainty. However, hard data has remained resilient and upside inflation risks remain. U.S. rates will likely be stuck until the hard data breaks or disproves soft sentiment data”.
- On the concept of how to trade this setup, Bank of America recommend “fading extremes in sentiment swings until hard data provides a clearer signal, we suspect a near-term range of 4.15-4.5% for 10s & hold a soft long bias in that range”.
- On the curve, they point to a “continued steepening bias in 5s30s”.
- In inflation products, they like long 1y4y inflation swaps “given tariff risks” as well as the hedging aspect they provide for duration longs.