Although US Treasury prices are on track for their first quarterly decline since 2013 and many debt investors are in the red for the year, money managers remain mostly upbeat on Treasuries.

Their optimism is supported by reduced economic expectations around the financial world at a time of uneven growth, expansive-central bank policy and near-record stock and bond prices in many countries. Many remain cautious in calling for higher bond yields after last year's unexpected slowdown in global growth whipsawed investors who had been betting a long-awaited bond-market selloff was imminent.