Journal Article
The Global Dash for Cash: Why Sovereign Bond Market Functioning Varied across Jurisdictions in March 2020
Barone, Jordan; Chaboud, Alain P.; Copeland, Adam; Kavoussi, Cullen; Keane, Frank M.; Searls, Seth (2023-12-01)
In March 2020, the economic disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a global dash for cash by investors. This selling pressure occurred across advanced-economy sovereign bond markets and caused a deterioration in market functioning, leading to central bank interventions. The authors show that these market disruptions occurred disproportionately in the U.S. Treasury market and were due to investors’ selling pressures being far more pronounced and broad-based. Furthermore, the authors assess differences in key drivers of the market disruptions across sovereign bond markets, ...
Economic Policy Review , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , Pages 1-29

Report
The Global Dash for Cash: Why Sovereign Bond Market Functioning Varied across Jurisdictions in March 2020
Barone, Jordan; Chaboud, Alain P.; Copeland, Adam; Kavoussi, Cullen; Keane, Frank M.; Searls, Seth (2022-03-01)
As the economic disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic increased in March 2020, there was a global dash-for-cash by investors. This selling pressure occurred across advanced sovereign bond markets and caused a deterioration in market functioning, leading to central bank interventions. We show that these market disruptions occurred disproportionately in the U.S. Treasury market and were due to investors’ selling pressures being far more pronounced and broad-based. Furthermore, we assess differences in key drivers of the market disruptions across sovereign bond markets, based on an ...
Staff Reports , Paper 1010

Discussion Paper
The Global Dash for Cash in March 2020
Barone, Jordan; Chaboud, Alain P.; Copeland, Adam; Kavoussi, Cullen; Keane, Frank M.; Searls, Seth (2022-07-12)
The economic disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic sparked a global dash-for-cash as investors sold securities rapidly. This selling pressure occurred across advanced sovereign bond markets and caused a deterioration in market functioning, leading to a number of central bank actions. In this post, we highlight results from a recent paper in which we show that these disruptions occurred disproportionately in the U.S. Treasury market and offer explanations for why investors’ selling pressures were more pronounced and broad-based in this market than in other sovereign bond markets.
Liberty Street Economics , Paper 20220712