UK

With corporate bond spreads having risen to not far short of crisis levels, Johnathan Owen argues the 4%-plus yields on offer in short dated investment grade are an attractive entry point for investors that might not be around for long.

Political chaos is once again taking the headlines in the UK, but bond investors should be cheering the UK regulator’s decision to raise banks’ capital buffers in preparation for an anticipated economic downturn, says Gary Kirk.

At this stage in the economic cycle investors may need to think about ways to protect their portfolios while providing strong relative value. Johnathan Owen explains why short dated investment grade can offer exactly that in his latest blog.

Consumers are being hit from seemingly all angles at the moment. Higher interest rates are coming, higher inflation is already hitting their pockets hard and economic growth is expected to slow.

CRE ABS offers conservatively structured debt features, with generally short duration exposure and a spread premium rewarding the more intensive underwriting and due diligence required.

Last week Oodle Financial Services successfully priced its fifth UK Auto ABS transaction, Dowson 2022-1.

Officially the Fed pivoted from its ‘transitory’ inflation rhetoric in December last year.

The hawkishness of the Fed on Wednesday paved the way for the Bank of England (BoE) to follow suit.

Soaring inflation was already a dominant theme for markets coming into 2022. The sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine have only exacerbated its expected rise, and pushed its expected peak further out.

We think a base case that central banks will follow a more measured monetary policy path than markets are currently pricing in is reasonable given the current backdrop.

Yield curve shape and yield curve change are often good predictors of the state of the economy and its outlook.

As 2021 wore on we became increasingly concerned that the disconnect between asset prices, economic fundamentals and monetary policy was becoming more acute.