Science and technology have only recently begun to disrupt the active fixed income asset management industry. Does scientific fixed income investing represent the industry’s next frontier? Learn more
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Strategists for Goldman Sachs, Christian Mueller Glissmann and Peter Openhiemer, say that government bonds are failing to meet the traditional hedging requirements and to consider higher cash and equity allocations. There is still a small negative equity/bond correlation and investors shouldn’t leave the traditional 60/40 split immediately. There are other reasons to allocate more to equity though such as a higher equity risk premia. Inflation is eating away very low yields, making cash a better relative investment, and rate volatility could be even higher in the upcoming Fed cycle. If bonds/equity correlation moves to zero then a balanced portfolio is futile and cash is the safer option.
FINSUM: Investors should need to watch the real return on their fixed income investments and high yield debt might not be worth the risk to generate the ‘normal’ bond returns.
China has banked an inordinate amount of U.S. dollars in the last couple of months as trade surpluses and inflows flow into its bond market. The Chinese trade surplus through September was about $100 billion larger than its 5 year average preceding the pandemic. This current account will provide a buffer against any foreign debt problems regardless of any economic situations China faces this year. The current account surplus could allow China to deleverage its corporate debt market, particularly in real estate, which has faced a difficult bond market. China’s dollar holdings have allowed the yuan to appreciate like other emerging market currencies, such as in Russia and Columbia. Holding greenbacks is a bet on a growing U.S. Economy, and could help China hedge their slower growth.
FINSUM: The large current surplus could mean myriad things for China, but it could also just be another symptom of the global economic disruption due to Covid-19.
The bond market boom has been bad for many fixed income investors, and debt is coming to term in a higher inflationary environment which is eating up all the return. However, bond market investors are turning to factor based investing to earn excess returns. Factor investing is a $700 billion market in equities, and it dwarfs the $25 billion dollar fixed income factor market. Factor investing modifies indices based on factors they think can give an edge over traditional indices. Active bond factor investing can outperform traditional indices in rising yield environments, but factor investing is looking to rival these active funds with systemic decisions. A ‘smart beta’ approach will look to outperform in high yield and emerging market debt.
FINSUM: The extensive literature on systemic fixed income is relatively small, and that's why smart beta strategies have failed to take off in the bond market like they have in equities.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the latest financial firm to sell debt in the U.S. Bond Market, joining the likes of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citigroup Inc.. JPMorgan is selling over $3 billion in bonds with a yield of .97 percentage points over the U.S. Treasuries and 11 year maturity. The flood in financial bonds is a result of the strong earnings posted by the financial industry in the last quarter. Goldman leads the pack with over $9 Billion in new debt issuance. However, some say JPMorgan is the most susceptible to issuance pressure from regulators with debt issuance driving leverage.
FINSUM: Don’t let balance sheet risk get anyone worried, because post 2008 leverage ratios are closely monitored and almost ensure fiscal support pending financial risk.
Headline inflation, which includes food and energy prices, rose at a staggering 4.4% annual growth at the end of September, which is the highest number posted since 1991. This isn’t necessarily the Fed’s preferred inflation metric because food and energy prices are more volatile than other areas, but even excluding those categories core inflation was at 3.1%. On top of that, personal income is down almost 1%, which makes that inflation gain even more painful. Policy makers are worried about overall economic health as stagflation becomes a real possibility with GDP coming in at just 2%, the weakest quarter since the recovery started. Treasury Secretary Yellen says that yearly inflation will remain high but she expects monthly inflation to come down as the year closes, with headline figures coming down towards the target of 2%. On the positive side, wages and salaries kept up this month, hitting 4.6% but that still poses challenges for the labor market in its own way.
FINSUM: Inflation is still posting strong gains but keep your eyes on the monthly annualized numbers to gauge if what Yellen says is accurate.
Inflation has been a point of contention as of late, as central banks are signaling it’s driven by the supply side constraints, and others are believing this is driven by the central bank practices themselves. Goldman Sachs chimed in saying they see 2021Q4 inflation number at 4.3% but that trailing off to 2.15% by 2022. The higher inflation in the intermediate means that the economy is at a significant risk of a right hike in early 2022. Sachs places themselves on the supply side of the debate however as semiconductor manufacturing picking up and increased imports in furniture and other consumer goods will drive down prices. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Jack Dorsey took to his own platform twitter to warn of hyper-inflation which sparked its fair share of social media controversy.
FINSUM: Inflation expectations are running pretty high historically, but surveys are really a poor metric, the TIPS market for example is predicting much more stable inflation.
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The fixed income (FI) portfolios of institutional investors are evolving rapidly. Investment strategists around the globe are noting that, in the search for yield, many investors are...see more on our partner's site
The fixed income market is in some of the worst shapes in recent memory. Both government and corporate debt have lost a 15 year high of 4.4% this year. Regardless if inflation is being driven by central banks and trillion-dollar stimulus or the supply chain disruptions Powell is claiming the bottom line is inflation is eating at the ‘fixed income’ bond investors have relied on. The U.K., Euro area, and Japan haven’t exactly been a shelter dropping 7.5%, 8%, and 9.8% respectively. On top of all of this, the Fed and other central banks are tightening, eroding the value of existing bonds. There has been shelter if investors are willing to look to emerging markets, such as China but overall investors need to be more flexible and can’t rely on index bond investing to survive.
FINSUM: High-yield corporate debt is where investors are going to have to look domestically to get the return after inflation they are used to.
(New York)
The debt clock is reading ten minutes to midnight for Congress which seems gridlocked in a game of chicken that could cost the public. Goldman Sachs issued an internal note late last week that there is a material risk that congress fails to reach a consensus on increasing the debt limit. Mitch McConnell is currently reviewing two plans to present Dems that would allow them to reach a consensus on raising the debt ceiling. Treasury Secretary Yellen reiterated that the government will be cash poor to pay the bills if Congress fails to raise the ceiling. Some are calling for the Treasury to mint a $1 trillion coin in order to finance if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling but Goldman says this scenario is unlikely.
FINSUM: Congress always comes around to raise the debt ceiling, but a new wave of Democrats and Republicans pose new risks that a mutual agreement can be met.
(Washington)
Fed Governor Lael Brainard issued comments on Thursday regarding the Fed’s position on climate change. Brainard said the Fed is developing a series of scenario tools to model the risk of climate change to the financial system. The models will see how our financial system holds up to hypothetical climate change hazards such as floods, droughts, and fires. This will bring the Fed closer to the rest of the leading central banks around the world, such as the ECB and Bank of England, who already are doing this at a minimum. Many progressive Democrats have been critical of the Powell Fed for their lack of green policy and financial regulation and this is a correction step that may allow Powell to get renominated in 2022.
FINSUM: These action steps are important by the Fed, but they will not be accompanied by any regulatory steps, meaning banks won’t be punished for over-exposure to climate risks. Thus, the risk to asset prices seems lower.