Displaying items by tag: fed

While rate hikes appear to be hurting stock and bond prices this year, the rise in yields has made short-term bond ETFs more attractive to yield-seeking investors. As the Fed continues to lift its benchmark federal funds rate to target inflation, bond rates have followed suit. This has been especially true for short-term bonds. In fact, short-term rates are even yielding more than longer-term rates in some cases. For example, the two-year Treasury note had a recent yield of 4%, which was higher than the 10-year Treasury note, with a yield of 3.58%. Plus, investors in short-term bonds are taking on less interest rate risk while getting paid more in interest. If rates continue to rise, bonds with shorter maturities are expected to fall less in price than longer-term bonds. That makes short-term bond ETFs an attractive option for income investors. For instance, the iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF (SHV), which holds Treasuries with maturities of less than a year, has a 30-Day SEC yield of 2.69%, while its price performance on the year is essentially flat.

Finsum:The Fed’s current interest rate policy has resulted in higher yields and less risk for short-term bond ETFs.

One of the most popular allocations for model portfolios in recent history has been the 60/40 model. A classic allocation with 60% invested in stocks and 40% invested in bonds. Until recently, this model has generated stable returns for investors. However, this year’s brutal returns for both the equity and fixed income markets have investors wondering if the traditional 60/40 model provides adequate protection. In most previous equity downturns, investors have been able to count on bond instruments to hedge negative equity performance due to an inverse relationship between stock returns and bond yields. But this year, investors have been faced with both a down stock market and a hawkish Fed, leading to losses in both asset classes. This has made the 60/40 model seem outdated as of late. While the 60/40 model may not be dead yet, investors may want to consider model portfolios with additional asset classes in the current market environment.

Finsum:With a down stock market and a hawkish Fed, investors may want to reconsider the 60/40 model portfolio.

Meantime, investors so far continue to quake over performance of fixed income assets.

The Fed’s expected to continue fueling interest rates not on through the second half of the year, but into next year as well, according to wellsfargo.com. Consequently, the degree of the yield curve inversion may top what had been the two cycles before.

Now, up to now for the year, a regular theme’s emerged: the trepidations among investors evolving around the performance of fixed income assets. Some of the top questions swirling in the noggins of fixed income investors that Wells identified: 

1. What is happening to bonds so far in 2022?
2. Why continue to invest in bonds?
3. Why is the Fed garnering so much attention this year?
4. What should investors expect from the remaining three Fed meetings of this year?
5. What does Fed quantitative tightening mean?

While some market activities are difficult project, one thing that can be pinpointed are long trends in fixed income investing, according to fi-desk.com. Why? Because we can see them and, among all fixed income managers, increasing rife with significance. 

Six trends they’re picking up on in the industry include Direct Indexing or Custom Indexing; Increased use of home office model portfolios; tax-loss harvesting in SMAs; truly optimizing rather than sequentially allocating; insisting on system interoperability; aggregating various data sources; and a shift in the Build vs. Buy debate.

--And these developments should be embraced, according to the site. “We believe these six trends are changing fixed income portfolio management for the better.”

U.S. Treasury yields rose on Monday with the benchmark 10-year yield hitting a five-week peak of 3.039%, while the 30-year yield climbed to a seven-week high of 3.268%. Yields rose as investors await a Federal Reserve gathering occurring later this week in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The Fed is widely expected to reinforce its commitment to tackling inflation. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak Friday morning at the Jackson Hole symposium. Last week's Fed minutes appeared to suggest that the Fed is on course to continue to increase interest rates with the central bank seeing "little evidence" that inflation was easing. The auction for shorter-dated coupons this week also added to the sell-off in Treasuries, pushing their yields higher. Traders typically sell Treasuries before an auction and then buy them back at a lower price. 

Finsum: Treasuries hit multi-week highs on Monday as investors await Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech on Friday morning at the Jackson Hole symposium.

Fixed income investors might feel lost in the current environment, but with yields starting to generate real income and prices ultra-low it might be the perfect buying opportunity. A new series of bond ETFs centered around treasuries was launched to capitalize on this unique time in the bond market. Slope Capital LLC and Genoa Asset Management LLC launched 10-year (UTEN.O), two-year (UTWO.O), and three-month (TBIL.O) dropped ETFs that will hold the most recent current Treasuries in the respective categories. Managers of the funds say this is well crafted precise tool for the fixed income investors that need a product like this. It gives new potential to bond investors in a precise way to tailor portfolios. There has been a flood into fixed income products as of late and funds are launching rapidly in response and will continue over the next half-decade.

Finsum: These tools can be utilized for investors wanting bond exposure, but not wanting to deal with the task of trading in the treasuries market and constantly updating