The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, March 19, edition that bond investors are preparing for a U.S. economic slowdown by reducing risky exposures and extending duration in their fixed-income portfolios, anticipating a prolonged timeline for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe reports that leading up to this week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting, investors have been purchasing longer-dated assets, signalling expectations for a deeper rate-cutting cycle. This trend of lengthening duration has been ongoing for at least the past month. JPMorgan's latest Treasury Client Survey showed bond investors having the largest net-long position on Treasuries since the autumn of 2010. The extreme overbought situation could be a contrarian indicator, however, suggesting a possible technical bounce for bond yields in the near term. The bond market's long positioning is likely owing in part to fears of recession, analysts said, as the Trump administration continued to pummel the United States' trading partners with aggressive import tariffs. Fed chair Jerome Powell is likely to indicate at Wednesday's briefing that the committee will stay patient on rate cuts, as the economy appears stable.