(New York)

You may not be paying much attention to it, but the last month has been very good for investment grade bonds. The reason why is that ratings agencies are in the midst of a massive wave of upgrades to companies that got downgraded at the start of COVID. This has sent demand for debt soaring as companies re-enter the investment grade market. For example, just in the week ending July 16th alone, the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD) pulled in $1.1bn in inflows. According to a credit strategist at Citi, “It’s like something that I have not seen in my time [in the industry] … After the financial crisis we didn’t get major companies moving back to investment grade so quickly”.

FINSUM: This is the early innings of yet another corporate bond bull run. Only credit specialists have mostly paid attention to this point, but investment grade bonds seem a good choice given the credit rating tailwind.

(New York)

Market volatility has been rising substantially and advisors may be interested in looking for holistic ways to diversify risk. Take a look at WisdomTree’s lineup of models, which are quite comprehensive. Using a factor-based approach, WisdomTree has a number of models to help investors hedge risk. This kind of approach can be quite useful right now as the market has been so unpredictable. According to the CIO of WisdomTree “We see an almost total factor performance reversal. In Q1 (when interest rates were rising), the market was led by value, dividends, and quality, with growth and momentum trailing far behind … But since then (as interest rates have fallen), it has been exactly the opposite—growth, momentum, and quality have led the way, while value and dividends dramatically underperformed”.

FINSUM: Models are an increasingly popular way for advisors to achieve a lot of investing goals, and they may be most useful because they can help save time by giving a single point-of-access to a comprehensive strategy.

(New York)

Two of the biggest problems facing many investors are how to handle potential inflation and taxes but…see the full story on Magnifi’s site

(New York)

The stock markets have had some very small slumps but rebounded quickly in the last 12-months. The refusal to…see the full story on Magnifi’s site

(New York)

Environmental, social, and governance is the well-known splash in the investment world but…see the full story on Magnifi’s site