Predicting US Treasury Returns
Predicting US Treasury Returns is a tactical asset allocation strategy reviewed on a monthly cadence. Its hypothetical backtest runs through 2026-08-17. BestFolio supplies the public rule or approach and backtest context; current signals, allocations, and paid interactive data remain restricted to Pro access. The recorded 2020-06-19 publication or construction boundary separates pre-publication simulation from later market observations under fixed rules; all returns remain hypothetical. Users review each scheduled signal and place any resulting trades in their own brokerage. BestFolio does not execute trades or provide personalized investment advice.
- Cadence
- Monthly
- Backtest data through
- 2026-08-17
- History boundary
- The recorded 2020-06-19 publication or construction boundary separates pre-publication simulation from later market observations under fixed rules; all returns remain hypothetical.
- Rule / approach
- 1. Compute 4 z-scored signals from ETF returns (120-month rolling window) 2. Bond trend is binary (+1/-1); other 3 are continuous z-scores clipped to [-1, +1] 3. Average all 4 signals; map to continuous bond allocation: (avg + 1) / 2 4.…
- BestFolio supplies
- the public rule or approach and backtest context; current signals, allocations, and paid interactive data remain restricted to Pro access
- Customer action
- Review each scheduled signal and place any required trades in your own brokerage; BestFolio does not execute orders.
- Costs and exclusions
- net of a modeled one-way transaction cost (10 bps, scaled up to 3x under stress); taxes, fund-expense drift, or market impact are not modeled
- Freshness
- The latest available backtest ends 2026-08-17. A run timestamp is not exposed here, so no stronger freshness claim is made.
- Next expected action
- First trading day of September; scheduled 2026-09-01 at 09:30 ET. Review the published signal before placing any trade.
Predicting US Treasury Returns at a glance
Predicting US Treasury Returns is a tactical asset allocation (TAA) strategy by Baltussen, Martens & Penninga across Treasuries, T-Bills, rebalanced monthly. Backtested 1988-02-29 to 2026-08-17 (38.3 years): 4.6% CAGR, 1.19 Sharpe, -10.4% max drawdown, 3.9% volatility.
- Type
- Tactical (TAA)
- Author
- Baltussen, Martens & Penninga
- Rebalancing
- Monthly
- Period
- 1988-02-29 to 2026-08-17
- CAGR
- 4.6%
- Sharpe
- 1.19
- Max Drawdown
- -10.4%
- Volatility
- 3.9%
Predicting US Treasury Returns — Tactical Asset Allocation Strategy
Predicting US Treasury Returns (Baltussen, Martens & Penninga, 2021) combines four signals into an ensemble model for bond timing: yield spread (IEF-BIL return proxy), bond trend (12-month IEF excess return), equity returns (inverted: low stocks = bullish for bonds), and commodity returns (inverted: low commodities = bullish for bonds). Each signal is z-scored over a 10-year rolling window and capped at [-1, +1]. The average signal maps to a continuous allocation between IEF and BIL.
Predicting US Treasury Returns: frequently asked questions
- What is Predicting US Treasury Returns?
- 4-signal ensemble (yield spread, bond trend, equity returns, commodity returns) for continuous bond/cash allocation.
- Who created the Predicting US Treasury Returns strategy?
- Predicting US Treasury Returns was developed by Baltussen, Martens & Penninga. It is based on Baltussen, G., Martens, M. & Penninga, O. (2021). Predicting Bond Returns: 70 Years of International Evidence. FAJ 77(3)..
- What is the historical return and maximum drawdown of Predicting US Treasury Returns?
- Backtested from 1988-02-29 to 2026-08-17, Predicting US Treasury Returns returned 4.6% CAGR with a -10.4% maximum drawdown and a Sharpe ratio of 1.19. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
- How often is Predicting US Treasury Returns rebalanced?
- Predicting US Treasury Returns is rebalanced monthly. BestFolio publishes the updated allocation signal each period.
- Is Predicting US Treasury Returns a tactical asset allocation strategy?
- Yes. Predicting US Treasury Returns is a tactical asset allocation (TAA) strategy: it adjusts its holdings based on market signals each period rather than holding a fixed allocation.
Backtest Performance (1988-02-29 to 2026-08-17)
| Metric | Predicting US Treasury Returns |
|---|---|
| CAGR | 4.6% |
| Max Drawdown | -10.4% |
| Sharpe | 1.19 |
| Sortino | 1.82 |
| Volatility | 3.9% |
| Calmar | 0.44 |
| Total Return | 458.6% |
| Backtest Period | 38.3 years |
Strategy Details
- Type
- Tactical (TAA)
- Rebalancing
- monthly
- Variants
- 1
- Author
- Baltussen, Martens & Penninga
- Source
- Baltussen, G., Martens, M. & Penninga, O. (2021). Predicting Bond Returns: 70 Years of International Evidence. FAJ 77(3).
Asset Classes
- Treasuries
- T-Bills
Further reading
New to this approach? Read what tactical asset allocation is and how it works.
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