Displaying items by tag: yields

(New York)

Inflation has been ticking higher, but it has not been high enough to cause real concerns. Despite this, the Fed has still been very hawkish, hiking rates several times. Well, that mild inflation may be about to change. Anecdotal evidence of corporate behavior shows that companies are increasingly passing along costs to consumers. In everything from soda to bleach to cookies, companies have been raising prices. Explaining the moves, the CEO of Mondelez says “The consumer environment is strong”. Prices across the supply chain have been rising, helping to drive higher pricing.

FINSUM: Consumer sentiment and spending is strong and this seems like the ideal environment in which to raise prices. Thus we think headline inflation is going to start to rise.

(New York)

Investors need to face reality (not that they aren’t), this Fed is more hawkish than any since the Crisis, and despite the market turmoil there will be yet another hike before the end of the year. Rates will keep rising so long as the economy stays strong. That means investors need to prepare. They have mostly done so by fleeing bond funds, but that may not be wise, as there are some very attractive funds that can help offset interest rate risk. For instance, check out the ProShares Investment Grade—Intr Rt Hdgd (IGHG) and the iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corp Bd ETF (LQDH). IGHG is particularly interesting because while both funds go long corporate bonds and short treasuries to produce zero duration, IGHG holds less BBB rated bonds and has a higher quality portfolio, all of which has let the fund appreciate this year even as rates rose strongly.

FINSUM: There are some very solid and creative bond funds out there to help offset rate risk while still earning decent yields. Given where equities are right now, these seem like good buys.

(New York)

“We think U.S. growth may have just peaked”, says the chief US economist for Barclays Capital. The US is coming off a strong GDP report, but the reality is that growth fell from 4.2% in the third quarter to 3.5% in third quarter. Most economists say that will slow to 2.5% in the first quarter of 2019, and 2.3% one year from now. In other words, the economy has already seen “as good as it gets” and we are past-peak. Most expect consumer spending and business investment to stall as the benefits of the tax cuts wane, weighing on the economy.

FINSUM: It is hard to imagine the economy getting better than it has been this year. Furthermore, we have a hard time believing it is going to slow down as gradually as the forecasts. We think a more abrupt recession is probably more likely.

(New York)

There is a significant minority of investors who have a very particular worry about the Treasury market right now. That worry is that foreign demand for Treasuries is slumping, which could cause a big sell-off or sustained period of losses. The potential issue has two parts—the first is that a huge amount of Treasury issuance is set to take place, the second is that foreign holdings of Treasuries are at their lowest in 15 years. The combination of seemingly low demand with high supply is making some think the bonds could be in for a rout alongside forthcoming auctions. JP Morgan strategists estimate that yields on Treasuries will rise 7-8 basis points for every $200 bn of Treasuries sold. Foreigners hold $6.3 tn of Treasuries.

FINSUM: This could be a problem, but given that central bank reserves have not been growing, it makes sense that foreign Treasury holdings haven’t either. Foreign governments still need Dollar liquidity, so there is a built in demand for Treasuries which we think won’t simply evaporate.

(New York)

The reality is that the Fed has been hiking steadily, and investors should expect 2-3 more hikes in 2019. That means that adjusting one’s portfolio is a must. One thing to remember is that there are now plenty of ETFs that are designed to not lose from rates rising and still give an easy 2-3% yield. This is a big change from the post-Crisis paradigm, where safety meant negligible yields. One conservative way to play the environment is the SPDR Barclays 1-3 Treasury Bill ETF (BIL). Another is the iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF (FLOT), which only yields 2.5%, but with very little rate risk. One much more intriguing option is the WisdomTree Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Negative Duration ETF (AGDN). This fund holds a long bond position coupled with a short Treasury position with a target duration of -5 years, meaning it is designed to gain when rates rise.

FINSUM: This is a good selection of ETFs, and that Wisdomtree option looks quite interesting. It truly seems a way to profit as rates rise.