About Those Negative-Yield Chinese Bonds.

One of the most interesting deals of the year, was completed on Wednesday. It was the issue, by the People's Republic of China of $4 Billion Euro Denominated Sovereign Bonds. And what drew the headlines, was the fact that a portion of these bonds were issued at a yield of less than Zero. That's right, these were the first ever negative interest rate bonds issued by the PRC. By my calculation, that means that worldwide were are nearing something like $20 trillion dollars worth of Sovereign Debt, which is currently at a negative yield. So how did we get here you might ask?