Report Summary 1. Investment Rating There is no specific industry investment rating provided in the report. 2. Core View The bond market is expected to continue its oscillating trend. Considering the weak fundamental situation, a slightly bullish stance is recommended for unilateral trading, with the suggestion to lightly position long on T contracts on dips. In terms of arbitrage, it is advised to stay on the sidelines for the short - term after closing the short position on the 30Y - 7Y term spread (TL - 3T) mid - week. Attention should be paid to potential cash - and - carry arbitrage opportunities in the next - quarter bond futures contracts [5][6]. 3. Summary by Directory First Part: Weekly Core Points Analysis and Strategy Recommendation - **Market Analysis**: This week, the bond futures market showed some divergence. Some market participants pre - speculated on the central bank's treasury bond trading information for this month, leading to relatively stronger performance in the short - to - medium - term. Meanwhile, foreign media reports on real - estate incremental policies suppressed long - term sentiment, with the TL contract declining more in the second half of the week. The actual progress, specific intensity of real - estate policies, and the source of fiscal subsidy funds are unknown, making it difficult to drive a trend - upward in yields. Market expectations for interest - rate cuts are weak, and capital prices continue to constrain the downward movement of yields [5]. - **Strategy Recommendation** - **Unilateral Trading**: Adopt a slightly bullish approach and lightly position long on T contracts on dips [6]. - **Arbitrage**: After closing the short position on the 30Y - 7Y term spread (TL - 3T) mid - week, stay on the sidelines in the short - term. For inter - delivery - month arbitrage, also enter a wait - and - see mode as the liquidity of the current - quarter contracts will gradually decline next week. Pay attention to potential cash - and - carry arbitrage opportunities in the next - quarter bond futures contracts, as their valuations are relatively high, mostly above 1.7% [5]. Second Part: Relevant Data Tracking - **Economic Data** - **EPMI**: In November, China's Strategic Emerging Industries Purchasing Managers' Index (EPMI) was 52.7, down 7.0 percentage points from the previous month. Although the decline was significant, it remained in the expansion range. EPMI and the official manufacturing PMI usually have high synchronicity in trends, but they diverged last month, indicating significant differences in the prosperity of different domestic industries. With the slowdown in the expansion of emerging industries in November, the recovery momentum of this month's PMI may still be weak [10]. - **Capital Market** - **Funding Conditions**: This week, affected by tax payments and a still - high net financing scale of government bonds, the market funding situation tightened first and then eased. As of Friday's close, DR001 and DR007 were 1.3209% and 1.4408% respectively. The overnight and 7 - day non - bank funding spreads were 6.68bp and 5.44bp respectively. The one - year certificate of deposit issuance rate of joint - stock banks slightly rose to around 1.65%. Next week, the net financing scale of government bonds will continue to decline, but approaching the end of the month, the funding situation will face some temporary disturbances. With the central bank's consistent supportive attitude, the upward range of market funding prices is expected to be relatively limited [12][16][17]. - **Term Spread**: Since Wednesday this week, the 30Y - 7Y term spread has widened again. On one hand, after the spread approached 40bp, there was a lack of substantial positive drivers, and the momentum for further compression was insufficient. Some funds pre - speculated on the central bank's treasury bond trading information for November and preferred to go long on medium - term treasury bonds. On the other hand, foreign media reported on Thursday that the policy level was considering providing mortgage subsidies to new home buyers nationwide in the future, which was more bearish for the long - term. If the mortgage subsidy policy is finally implemented, it will help balance the cost of home purchases and the rent - to - sale ratio for residents, and the probability of the central bank cutting interest rates will decrease accordingly, which is negative for the bond market. However, the details of relevant policies are unknown, so the bond market is not expected to over - price in advance [18][19][25]. - **Arbitrage Indicators** - **Inter - delivery - month Arbitrage**: In the past two weeks, the indicators for potential inter - delivery - month arbitrage opportunities during the roll - over period of the T contract triggered two short - term long - trading signals, but the indicator became neutral starting on Thursday, presumably related to the significant increase in long positions in the next - quarter T contract on that day. As next week is the last week before the delivery month, it is recommended to enter a wait - and - see mode for inter - delivery - month arbitrage [5][26][29]. - **Cash - and - carry Arbitrage**: Calculated based on the ChinaBond valuation and futures settlement prices, the implied repo rates (IRR) of the current - quarter contracts of TS, TF, T, and TL are 1.3226%, 1.0132%, 1.4099%, and 1.2732% respectively. The IRR of the next - quarter contracts of TS, TF, T, and TL are 1.6583%, 1.7361%, 1.7706%, and 1.7469% respectively, with relatively high valuations [34]. - **Roll - over Progress**: This week, the roll - over of the main contracts accelerated significantly. As of Friday's close, the roll - over progress of the TS, TF, T, and TL contracts was 69.2%, 63.2%, 63.7%, and 64.8% respectively [35].

Core Insights - The report updates the monthly timing model for 10-year government bond yields, enhancing the quantitative prediction model based on historical similarity to supplement subjective decision-making [2][12][82] - The new model incorporates additional factor indicators such as external pressures and asset pricing, assigns differentiated weights to various factors, and adjusts seasonal handling to improve accuracy [12][82] - The updated model shows improved predictive accuracy, achieving a directional prediction success rate of 68% from January 2019 to July 2025, with a higher rate of 74% in the last two years [2][82] Factor Selection and Weighting - The model selects indicators that reflect month-on-month changes and exhibit mean-reversion characteristics, including manufacturing PMI, PPI, and DR007 [15][19][26] - The weighting of factors is differentiated, with manufacturing PMI and PPI receiving full weight, while seasonal factors and asset pricing are assigned lower weights [16][36][47] - The model emphasizes timely updates, allowing predictions to be made before the beginning of each month [18][82] Model Performance and Strategy Backtesting - The model's performance is validated through backtesting, demonstrating that timing strategies outperform longer-duration benchmarks since 2019 [4][84] - Three types of strategies are designed based on the timing model: basic timing strategy, timing with government bond futures, and timing with leverage [4][84] - The backtesting results indicate that the leveraged timing strategy can achieve an annualized excess return of up to 128 basis points, with favorable risk-return metrics [4][84] Summary of Findings - The updated model maintains its timeliness and predictive capability, allowing for the calculation of the next month's yield center direction at the end of each month [2][82] - The model's limitations include challenges in accurately predicting the magnitude of yield center changes, but it still contributes positively to investment returns [4][84] - Overall, the report concludes that the updated timing model and its associated strategies provide significant advantages in enhancing bond investment returns [84]

Core Viewpoint - The news highlights an upward movement in government bond futures, indicating a potential shift in market sentiment towards safer assets [1] Group 1: Market Performance - Government bond futures rose in the afternoon, with the TL contract increasing by 0.12% to 119.39 and the T contract rising by 0.10% to 108.59 [1] - The yield on the 10-year government bond active coupon decreased by 1.1 basis points to 1.6970% [1]

Group 1: Report Information - Report Title: "TS Contract: Can It Still Be Used for Cash-and-Carry Arbitrage? - Interest Rate Weekly (Week 3 of May)" [1] - Report Date: May 19, 2025 [2] - Chief Analyst: Yan Ziqi, with a practice certificate number of S0010522030002 [2] - Research Assistant: Hong Ziyan, with a practice certificate number of S0010123060036 [2] Group 2: Industry Investment Rating - No industry investment rating is provided in the report. Group 3: Core Views - Since the implementation of reciprocal tariffs on April 3, the bond market's maturity yields have first decreased and then increased. Among treasury bond futures, the TL contract has been strong, while the TS/TF/T main contracts have declined [2]. - The weak performance of the TS contract is due to the previous large premium and the change in the expectation of loose monetary policy. The market's expectation of loose monetary policy changed significantly in Q1, and there are differences in the short - term expectation of loose monetary policy after the double - cut in May. The yield curve has flattened instead of steepening as expected [3]. - As of May 16, the basis of the TS main contract is - 0.07 yuan, and the IRR is 1.79%. The basis has significantly converged, and the IRR is close to the capital interest rate, so the cost - effectiveness of cash - and - carry arbitrage is insufficient [4]. - In the short term, the TS contract may still be in a premium state because of the continuous negative carry. The inversion between R001 and the 2 - year treasury bond maturity yield has decreased from about 60bp at the beginning of the year to 15bp on May 16, and the negative carry phenomenon of some varieties will continue [4]. - Considering that the tight capital situation in Q1 will not repeat, the short - term interest rate has a ceiling and the probability of a sharp decline is low. With the significant convergence of the basis, one can consider participating in the possible rise of the TS contract [4]. Group 4: Analyst and Research Assistant Introduction - Analyst Yan Ziqi is the assistant director of the Research Institute of Hua'an Securities and the chief analyst of fixed income. He has 8 years of experience in sell - side fixed income and equity research, and has won the second place in the 2024 Wind Gold Analyst and the best analyst in the 2023 Choice fixed income industry [12]. - Research Assistant Hong Ziyan is a master of financial engineering from the University of Southern California, covering macro - interest rates, institutional behavior, and treasury bond futures research [12].