In an article for the Financial Times, Mary McDougall reported on growing investor nervousness regarding junk bonds due to tightening credit and financial conditions. According to the Federal Reserve’s survey of Senior Loan officers about 46% of banks are planning to tighten lending standards given worries about defaults and recent stresses to the banking system. 

Historically as lending standards tighten, it leads to a wider spread between junk bonds and Treasuries, indicating concerns over growing defaults. This can even potentially exacerbate a recession as companies have tougher times accessing capital markets which can affect corporate decisions,leading to belt-tightening and job losses. 

What’s interesting is that many expected that the regional bank failures that began in March would have impacts on spreads and lending. Yet, there hasn’t been an impact yet. In fact, the entire bond complex has been quite strong since these stresses began as many interpreted it as increasing the odds of the Fed pausing rate hikes. 

The Federal Reserve also seems to share these concerns as Chair Powell discussed the possibility of a credit crunch and that it poses one of the major risks to its economic outlook and financial stability. 

Finsum: Despite the Fed’s rate hikes and regional banking concerns, lending and spreads have remained relatively resilient, but some are concerned that this won’t last. 

Category: Wealth Management; 

Keywords: #bonds; #Fed; #fixed income

In an article for USA Today, Jessica Guynn summarized the current debate between those who advocate for ESG investing and those who see it as a disguise for ‘woke capitalism’. In contrast, supporters of ESG see these factors as being critical to their investing process. For instance, they see preparations for climate change as part of a managers’ fiduciary duty given its potential impact on asset values. 

These tensions came up at the House Oversight Committee meeting last week as Representative Rankin was critical of anti-ESG attacks which he said were coming at the behest of the fossil fuel industry. In turn, Republicans were equally harsh as they countered that asset managers should only consider financial information and that by considering non-financial factors, they were risking the retirement savings of American workers. 

At the state level, 17 Republican Attorney Generals jointly filed a motion to block Blackrock from advocating for ESG principles for utility companies. 

Many of those opposed to ESG see it as preventing energy companies from making sufficient long-term investments that are necessary to continue fossil fuel production and blame it, in part, for the inflation and oil spike during 2021.

Finsum: ESG investing continues to be a source of political conflict. These tensions came to a head at a contentious House Oversight Committee meeting.

In an article for Investopedia, Justin Kuepper shared some strategies for financial advisors to grow their practices. This type of planning is important to ensure that daily activities are aligned with your long-term financial goals as well as your client’s. Without consistently investing in these efforts, it’s likely that your practice will start to erode as clients who leave are not replaced. 

Instead, advisors should focus on carving out a specific niche such as focusing on a particular community, industry, or demographic. This will lend more expertise and credibility and lead to more curiosity and comfort from clients and prospects. You will also have less competition and be able to develop a brand which can be difficult given that financial advisors offer many of the same services. 

The next growth strategy is to provide exceptional service to your clients as it can lead to referrals which is the most effective form of marketing. Some advisors make the mistake of focusing too much on new business and see high rates of attrition when existing clients don’t feel valued. Putting these strategies in place also means that advisors don’t need to compromise on price as they will be offering a premium, differentiated service.

Finsum: Growing a financial advisory business takes planning and strategic thinking. Here are some tips to ensure success.