$13.4 trillion in negative yield bonds and rising...

Global markets have been waiting all week for Yellen to give her speech (midnight AEST) at Jackson Hole tonight. The electrifyingly titled "The Federal Reserve's Monetary Policy Toolkit" belies its potential significance. Half the world's traders will have their fingers on the trigger, or at least watching their favourite asset respond to the anticipated direction on rates from the Fed. This is of course just the latest instalment of 'will they or won't they' from the Fed, and currently the futures have a rate rise by year's end at roughly 50:50. Clues in Yellen's speech are likely to dominate the media commentary. However the elephant in the room for the world's central bankers in attendance is the ballooning value of negatively-yielding government and corporate bonds globally. At last count this stands at $13.4 trillion. Just four months ago it was just under $10 trillion, and the trajectory in the chart below suggests this could be accelerating. There are some good charts on this, and the implications for precious metals in this report from Sprott Asset management: (VIEW LINK)