All insights

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting was a relatively uneventful one, but there are a few points worth highlighting.

Recently, BBVA announced that it had approached the management of Banco Sabadell, to explore a possible merger between both entities, with BBVA also appointing advisers for this purpose.

In this Back to Basics webinar, Jakub Lichwa (Portfolio Management) and Dillon Lancaster (Portfolio Management) from our Multi-Sector Bond team gave their valuable insights into the importance of maintaining sufficient levels of bank capital to uphold financial stability.

Money supply measures such as M1 and M2 enjoyed a relatively brief period of fame and glory just after the pandemic.

Following yesterday’s release of Italian energy company Enel's 2023 annual sustainability report, it was confirmed that they had failed to meet the emissions reduction key performance indicator (KPI) linked to a number of their sustainability linked bonds (SLBs).

On this webinar in our Spotlight on ESG series, Johnathan Owen, Portfolio Management discussed fossil fuel financing and how we engage with banks on this subject.

Volatility made an unwanted come back this week. A combination of rising tensions in the Middle East, strong Consumer Price Index (CPI) and labour market data in the US in previous days, and markets that looked somewhat expensive in certain sectors, all conspired to cause a widening in spreads and a correction in equity prices.

The NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business) survey can most certainly be considered an important report that monitors the pulse of the US economy.

George Curtis, Portfolio Management, discusses the Multi-Sector Bond team's performance in Q1 2024, highlighting the improved clarity in deciphering central bank actions. With an anticipated central bank rate cut as the next move, the team remain confident in navigating the market's developments.

Following the aggressive rates rally at the end of 2023, Q1 saw notable gains, with inflation surpassing expectations. Johnathan Owen, Portfolio Management, highlights a more promising inflation outlook and its implications for the Investment Grade team. 

Douglas Charleston, Partner & Portfolio Management, concludes the first quarter in 2024 for the Asset-Backed Securities team, noting that while major economies remain resilient, the rates markets have undergone significant shifts, with central banks reassessing their rate cut expectations.

The Additional Tier 1's product was first launched in early 2013, so the asset class has mostly seen the period of negative interest rates and challenging operating environment post the Euro zone crisis.