Displaying items by tag: bonds

(New York)

Bonds are incredibly expensive right now, but despite this, they may keep going higher, says Goldman Sachs. The firm is specifically referring to high yield bonds, which are very pricey right now and have low spreads to Treasuries. For example, only 10% of high yield bonds currently trade with spreads above 5 percentage points above Treasuries, compared to 25% in November. This makes Goldman believe the easiest gains are already in the bag, but given that high yield bonds are sensitive to an improving economy and they have appreciated even while Treasuries have fallen, Goldman feels the asset class could be in for more appreciation.

FINSUM: This makes sense. It is also worth noting that historically speaking, high yield bonds have no correlation to the performance of Treasuries.

(New York)

It is pretty easy to sum up what seems like it will be a forthcoming bull market in high yield bonds: “2021 will be the year of the upgrade”. That quote comes from Matt Brill, head of North America investment-grade at Invesco. Ratings agencies are reportedly on the cusp of upgrading between $100 bn and $300 bn of junk bonds to investment grade this year and next. Fund managers are trying to buy the bonds they think will be upgraded as such a move will cause a lot of arbitrary buying by index trackers.

FINSUM: There were huge downgrades last year as the pandemic wiped out prices in big parts of the sector. Now, with the economy resurgent, big upgrades look likely, which should give the whole asset class wings.

(Washington)

Investors may fear it, but we all know the big tax package is coming. Personal income tax rates, and likely business rates will rise. State and local taxes will be affected too. So one big question is how this will pay out for muni bonds. The answer, at least according to Franklin Templeton, is that munis are going to do great. The reason why could not be simpler: with tax rates rising, the relative value of munis rises since their tax exempt status because relatively more valuable.

FINSUM: Anxiety about the forthcoming tax plan is rising, and that is a great tailwind for munis. Couple that with the fact that Democrats are more in favor of federal support for municipalities and you have a great combination for muni bonds.

(New York)

Bond yields are on the rise, from long-term Treasuries to corporate bonds. However, Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater, says…see the full story on our partner Magnifi’s site

(New York)

Some analysts think that investment grade (IG) bonds might see some very rough times ahead. In fact, one analyst from Pavilion Global Markets says that IG bonds have “virtually no value proposition under any given economic scenario”. Think about the following package of information taken as a whole: 1. iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF has lost 6.6% this year; 2. IG yields are well below 6.6%; 3. Investors have been pouring money in IG bond mutual funds and ETFs. So IG bonds are losing value much more quickly than they are yielding, which spells a recipe for disaster to some. According to the same analyst “be mindful of the potential for significant outflows in the days to come”.

FINSUM: We can’t say we agree here. While fixed income as a whole looks fragile right now, the losses have provided room for IG bonds to appreciate as the economy and earnings improve. We do not think it will be all bad news.