It’s been rumoured by market participants that Russia has been getting out of US Treasuries in response to ongoing tensions and the possibility of sanctions. BI suggests that they are not actually selling their holdings, some $138bn, but instead are just transferring them out of the Fed, which is why custodial holdings at the Fed have dropped by $100bn to Wednesday.
We’ve already heard that China may be unloading dollar holdings to shift into euros, as reported by Eamonn overnight but BI is a bit more skeptical considering what they’re currently dealing with in their banking system.
Either way there’s plenty of reasons that can be attributed to the fall in Treasury yields with the weaker economic data adding to the list.
Business Insider gives the low down here and some decent history on prior Russian action in similar situations.