TLH's Price Sinks as Treasury Yields Peak

As 10-year note Treasury yields reached their highest point since 2007 this week, the price of the iShares 10-20 Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLH) fell to its lowest levels in over a decade.  

The $6.45 billion fund, which tracks Treasury bonds at the longer end of the maturity spectrum, dropped to $94 on Wednesday, the ETF’s all-time low. As of Friday, the fund is still hovering around the same price. 

Yet TLH, along with its longer-term sibling fund, the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), has still been catching the eyes, and wallets, of investors this year. TLT has brought in nearly $17 billion this year despite a 13% drop in price, while TLH has brought in $1.37 billion despite an 11% decline in price.

Higher for Longer  

As the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates high, long-term Treasury bond yields have jumped, and a strong U.S. retail sales report earlier this week was a signal that rates may remain high. Yields on 10-year Treasury notes rose to 5% on Thursday, the highest rate since 2007.  

“The dramatic surge in interest rates to more than 5% in the 10-year and 30-year Treasuries is weighing on Treasury bond prices and the ETFs that hold them,” said etf.com analyst Sumit Roy. “But investors haven’t been deterred by the losses, because many believe that it’s just a matter of time before the economy weakens and rates reverse course.”  

Treasury Yields Peak  

BlackRock’s Treasury ETFs aren’t the only bond funds seeing a dramatic dichotomy between inflows and performance.

The Vanguard Long-Term Treasury ETF (VGLT), along the SPDR Portfolio Long Term Treasury ETF (SPTL), the PIMCO 25+ Year Coupon U.S. Treasury Index ETF (ZROZ) and the Schwab Long-Term U.S. Treasury ETF (SCHQ), has seen strong demand from investors looking to buy into interest rate-sensitive funds before the Fed reverses its course on rates.  

Some investors speculate that the counterintuitive phenomenon may be a kink in the yield curve, as Christian Salomone, chief investment officer at Ballast Rock Private Wealth, told etf.com’s Jeff Benjamin.

“Investors are trying to take advantage of the kink by buying the 20-year and getting the artificial bump in yields. There are probably a lot of hedge funds and people who are trying to be opportunistic,” Salomone said.  

Contact Lucy Brewster at [email protected].