LONDON - The pile of negative-yielding government debt in the euro zone rose to its highest level in three months in November, as investors scaled back rate hike bets and rushed back to safe-haven debt amid an uncertain outlook, Tradeweb data showed.
The value of negative-yielding euro-denominated government debt stood at around 6.19 trillion euros ($7.01 trillion) at the end of November, up from 4.9 trillion euros a month previously, the Tradeweb data showed on Wednesday.
Negative-yielding debt comprised 67% of a total government bond market in the euro zone worth over 9 trillion euros on the Tradeweb platform, versus 54% a month earlier. This was the highest share since August.
The pool of negative-yielding British government bonds rose to its biggest since January at 765 billion pounds, or around 28.5% of a total market worth around 2.69 trillion pounds, Tradeweb said.
Sovereign bond yields have fallen sharply in recent weeks as central banks pushed back against aggressive market pricing for interest rate hikes and the emergence of a new coronavirus variant, Omicron, sparked a fresh dash for fixed income.
The share of negative-yielding euro-denominated investment-grade corporate bonds was little changed at end-November at around 26% of a total market worth 3.7 trillion euros, the Tradeweb data showed.
