SHORT ANSWER
The core idea
Safe-haven bonds can sell off when investors urgently need cash, leveraged positions are unwound or inflation and fiscal concerns dominate the shock.
THE MECHANISM
What is happening underneath
March 2020 showed that even Treasury-market liquidity can deteriorate under extreme balance-sheet pressure.
MARKET INTERPRETATION
How investors should read it
A crisis can therefore produce an initial dash for cash before conventional safe-haven behavior reappears.
BONDSTATS TAKEAWAY
The same market move can carry different information depending on which maturity, issuer and risk premium is changing. Read the question together with the underlying concepts rather than treating one price move as a universal signal.
RELATED CONCEPTS
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