Wild Action In The TLT

The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF

has been on a wild ride today. This ETF tracks the longer maturity U.S. Treasury bonds such as the 30 year note. Today the TLT sold off sharply today with the major stock market indexes. However, when the stock market rallied higher the TLT caught a bid and moved up as well. Normally, bonds and the stock market do not trade with each other or in the same direction. However, today both the stock market and the long maturity bond market are trading in tandem with each other. Usually, when investors buy bonds it is for safety and it usually means that the stock market is going to sell off and trade lower. So much for conventional wisdom these days.