Displaying items by tag: yields

(New York)

If you are an investor looking for safe yields, look no further than this handful of high-yielding stocks. All three stocks presented here have yields over 5%. That level may prove a key defensive barrier, as shares with yields that lofty are less likely to be affected by rate rises. The three stocks are REIT EPR Properties (6.2% yield), healthcare company Welltower (5.2%), and property giant Brookfield Property Partners (6%+ yield).

FINSUM: Brookfield, in particular, seems like a good buy, as its business looks very strong and it is trading at a big discount versus the value of its real estate holdings.

(New York)

There has been a lot of focus, including both worry and skepticism, surrounding the potential inversion of the yield curve. The two and ten-year Treasury are now just 20 bp apart. Because yield curve inversions have been a very reliable indicator of recession, many are worried. However, some are skeptical that the current near-inversion means much because of how distorted long-term bond prices have become because of quantitative easing. The reality though, according to the FT, is that it doesn’t matter if long-term yields are artificially low. Because the market believes in the predictive power of inversions, companies, consumers, and investors will act as though we are headed into a recession, and thus create one in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

FINSUM: This is an interesting argument that relies strongly on the concept of herd mentality amongst investors. We tend to agree that an inversion may cause an adverse reaction in the economy and markets.

(New York)

Retail investors have often had trouble accessing the corporate bond markets. Bond are traded in $1,000 increments and usually move in multi-million Dollar transactions, putting the asset out of the reach of most (new corporate bond ETFs aside). However, there is an easier way to directly own bonds—so-called baby bonds, or bonds sold on stock exchanges like the NYSE in $25 increments. The total market size for the bonds is around $20 bn and the securities are usually senior unsecured. Issuers like them because they are callable after just five years. Frequently the bonds have higher yields than their convention counterparts. Finally, they pay interest four times a year rather than twice.

FINSUM: This is an interesting if niche asset class, but there is some appeal in the unique terms these “baby bonds” have. There are also some big name issuers like AT&T and eBay.

(New York)

One of Wall Street’s favorite trades has gone down the tubes this year, and for a classic reason. One of the hottest trades of this year has been to short ten-year Treasury bonds. Many institutional money managers believed that the bonds would see their yields rise and prices fall as the Fed raised rates and the US continued to grow at a quick pace. However, the opposite has happened recently, and ten-year Treasury bonds have seen their yields fall from well over 3% to just 2.83%. The reason why is a short squeeze. Short interest in the bonds rose from a net short position of around 75,000 futures contracts at the beginning of the year to almost 700,000 now.

FINSUM: We think there are a lot more factors keeping yields low than a short squeeze, but it is definitely a considerable component.

(New York)

When the Republican tax reform package came out last year, there were fears that the changes could cause weakness in the muni market. However, while those potential long-term challenges remain, the reality is that the tax changes have helped the muni market considerably. The reason why is that the lack of SALT deductions means that many more investors have a strong inventive to buy muni bonds. This has kept yields low and demand robust, as for a high income couple in states like New York, a local muni bond yielding 3% is equivalent to a taxable corporate bond yielding over 6%.

FINSUM: Given the way that the new tax package heavily incentivizes muni income, we expect demand and prices to remain robust.