In fact, TIPS returns appear sensitive to fluctuations in oil prices. 3  As a partial fix of this problem, the breakeven inflation rates shown in Figure 1 are calculated by comparing the yields of TIPS and so-called off-the-run securities. Within a given class of securities, say Treasury bonds with ten years until maturity, off-the-run securities are securities other than those most recently issued.
Because off-the-run securities are less liquid than newly issued (on-the-run) securities, they provide a more appropriate benchmark against which to compare the yields of relatively illiquid inflation-indexed bonds.