Interest rate environment
YIELD ON TEN-YEAR GERMAN FEDERAL BONDS / % | H 1 | 2021 | Change |
Average yield | 0.63 | –0.31 | +0.94 |
Highest yield | 1.76 | –0.06 | +1.82 |
Lowest yield | –0.13 | –0.62 | +0.49 |
Final yield as of June 30 | 1.37 | –0.18 | +1.55 |
Source: Thomson Reuters (daily closing prices)
The sustained high inflation rates worldwide led to a rethink of the central banks’ interest rate policies. While the US Federal Reserve Bank had already been raising interest rates, the ECB initially announced such a step for July 2022 and then also implemented it more clearly than previously expected. As a result, the main refinancing rate returns to a positive value for the first time in six years. At the same time, the international central banks’ bond-buying programs are coming to an end. In this environment, yields on securities rose sharply. The yield curve for German Federal Government bonds with a residual maturity of more than one year was then consistently in positive territory.