Hacker News Reader

Because they need to park Capital somewhere that gives a return, even if it's a small one.

It's not a bet that interest will stay low as much as I bet that they as a company will be around in 10 years to see the returns. It's a guaranteed profit if they make it to the finish line.

Of course it's a bet that interest rates will stay low, as subsequent events have amply demonstrated.

Managing to hang on until maturity doesn't magically make it turn into a profit, when you consider the time value of money. The bonds are worth so little today precisely because they're only returning the original amount at maturity, plus 200 year low interest.

In fairness, it worked for the first 48-ish quarters they did that for. And they're rewarded for thinking in quarters, not years.

Also, stupidity and laziness.

because none of them did long term statistical modeling or risk evaluation but kept focusing only a few quarters ahead.