Why 10-year bond rate is important?

It is the second time in a couple of months that the 10-yr Treasury rate crossed 3% mark. Why is this so important? There are several reasons for that.

When most of the analysts establish the price targets for a company, they use the so-called discounted cash flow model (DCF). The idea behind their calculations is indeed very simple: they try to predict the earnings of the company for the foreseeable future and then discount a cash flow by the interest rate. It this interest rate that determines the “discount” factor, and greater the interest rate – greater the discount factor, and therefore smaller the price target becomes.

Of course, the increase in 10-years Treasuries rate defines the overall interest rate environment for corporate bonds, and while this dependence is not that simple, 10-years Treasury rate has a direct impact on the allocation to fixed income securities by large market players (pension funds, insurance companies). As the interest rates rise, many such funds shift their assets from a stock market to fixed income securities.

Both these factors will have a definite negative impact on the behavior of the stock market and combined with the expected (and announced) two additional interest raise increases this year, the market can experience a significant downturn. In no way, it is a prediction – but please watch this rate carefully.