Displaying items by tag: bonds

(New York)

Over the last few weeks the US stock market had looked strong. Stocks had shrugged off a number of geopolitical disturbances with relative ease. However, suddenly, a lot of macro signs are looking poor. The combination of European political turmoil, weaker growth, and a sudden drop in US bond yields, are all coming together in a package that shows things are not as rosy as they might have seemed a few weeks ago. While European sovereign spreads are widening to the largest since 2013, US Treasury yields are plunging and are now well below 2.9%.

FINSUM: This might be the start of a very rough summer for markets, and how fitting that it all began on Memorial day. While some might say “It’s just Italy”, Europe has proved enough to scuttle global markets in the past (see the summers of 2011 and 2012).

(Madrid)

This is Europe week for financial markets. Italy is currently engulfed in a political, and increasingly markets, crisis. Now the panic and political gloom is spreading to Spain. The country’s Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, is set to face a no confidence vote and the outcome is very uncertain. Accordingly, Spain’s sovereign yields have been rising alongside Italy’s. The no confidence vote will be held on Friday and comes following a ruling of corruption against the center-right party of which Rajoy is leader.

FINSUM: Southern Europe is back in the news this week after a six-year hiatus. We don’t think anything major will be caused by Spain, but the Italian situation is very dicey.

(New York)

Stock markets are moving sideways, bond yields are shooting higher, and there is a great deal of uncertainty about the direction of the economy. Investors are understandably nervous. With that in mind, Barron’s has published a piece outlining the best places to park your or your clients’ cash. The answer is short-term bond funds, which are almost all yielding over 2% and have significant insulation from losses related to rate rises. For instance, the Vanguard Short term bond fund is yielding 2.76% and has only lost less than 1% this year despite rises in yields. ETFs that track floating rate bonds are also a good idea given the environment. For example, the iShares Floating Rate Bond (FLOT), which yields 2.21%.

FINSUM: Short-term bond yields are finally significantly higher than equity yields, which means there is at last a good, and likely less risky, alternative to stocks.

(New York)

Investors beware, credit quality is quickly eroding in the real estate sector. While lending standards started strong after the Crisis, they have eroded significantly in the last few years as investor demand for yields has pushed lenders further down the credit spectrum and eroded protections. The credit quality of both prime and sub-prime borrowers has fallen and the popularity of CRT (credit risk transfer) securities, or mortgage bonds not fully backed by Fannie and Freddie, has risen. Worryingly, yields have not reacted to the decline in quality, as such risky CRT bonds have recently traded at less than a 100 bp premium to Treasuries.

FINSUM: So the big worry with mortgage bonds is that they always collapse faster than any model can predict. Because mortgage payments are so linked to the underlying economy and employment, when a recession happens, the defaults just flood in. We could be headed in that direction.

(New York)

The long-time biggest bond shop on Wall Street (actually they are in California) has just put out a stark warning to investors—ten-year Treasuries are going to hit 3.5% in the near term. The manager thinks yields will make it to that level this year but then stall. Above 3.5%, they say, yields would have a detrimental effect on growth and that as yields rise investors will be moving their money into different asset classes.

FINSUM: A 3.5% yield on the ten-year would be a pretty attractive proposition to many, and it seems likely that given how that figure would be simultaneously appealing and a warning of poor future growth, investors will likely move out of equities.