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Bond investors are struggling to find a decent yield in this environment of low interest rates.

U.S. 10-year Treasury notes currently yield about 2.5%, just slightly better than the just-less-than 2% inflation we’ve seen over the first half of this year.

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As a result, bond investors are left with only bad — or at least, suboptimal — options right now.

Peter Tchir at Brean Capital published a research note on what he calls “The Circles of Bond Hell.”

There are five:

1. Hope Market Cheapens: Some folks are just waiting for bond prices to fall and yields to rise. But if your investment strategy has come down to “Hope the Market Cheapens,” you have no investment strategy. You are going to church. Tchir: “While this strategy has the appeal of being risk averse, it hasn’t worked at all.”

2. Increase Duration: If you are forced to increase your duration, you’re exposing yourself to interest rate risk. And in (overly) simple terms: When short-term rates rise, the stuff you own that doesn’t mature for a really long time is worth less. Tchir: “This seems to be fraught with career risk at this stage.” This sounds appealing.