White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, May 3, 2019.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Larry Kudlow, President Donald Trump’s top economic advisor, told CNBC on Friday that he believes the recent decline in U.S. bond yields doesn’t reflect market or business fundamentals and instead reflects a transient flight to safer assets in the wake of the virulent coronavirus in Asia.
Asked by CNBC’s David Faber how he interprets a new, all-time low on the 30-year Treasury bond, Kudlow said he has to think it’s “a run to safety.”
“I just think, in general, I would be very careful to put too much emphasis on what bond rates are doing, what interest rates are doing. Or even in the short, short run, the stock market,” he said. ” I think you have a lot of mood swings here and I don’t think it reflects the fundamentals.”
Kudlow’s comments came as the yield on the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond fell to an all-time low under 1.9% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 285 points, slightly less than 1%.
Though traders widely blamed the coronavirus for Friday’s risk-off pivot, some suggested the record low on the 30-year bond represents a longer-term view that economic growth could be set for slower growth and that the Federal Reserve may not be equipped to remedy a slowdown.
“The fixed income market, usually the world’s greatest pessimist, tends to look way out in the future when pricing the current market,” wrote Raymond James rates strategist Kevin Giddis. “It is looking far ahead to the negative effects that the virus could have on the U.S. economy, which could force the Fed in, kicking and screaming.”
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