Sharing our convictions

Investors’ return expectations for multi-asset portfolios are high. To achieve them, we are convinced that the time has come for investors to rethink their approach, especially in terms of required asset classes, allocation flexibility, and exclusion of emotional decisions.

As things stand today, the blue-sky scenarios have been nearly fully priced in everywhere. This is why the potential for disappointment in the first part of the year is big and fixed income investors should prepare for volatility.

“We expect high-yield (HY) sovereign bonds from emerging markets to continue to outperform their investment grade (IG) counterparts in the hard-currency EM debt space through most of 2021.” Says Vontobel Asset Management’s new EM Debt Strategist, Carlos de Sousa. In this article, he explains why.

In our view the rationale for the premium is certainly weakening and, of course, we can no longer call it a ‘Brexit’ premium.

We view ESG as integral to a company’s long-term potential – much like safety when driving. If you drive without using the mirrors, it does not mean you will get to the supermarket quicker or slower the first year, but with time the chances of a costly encounter rise.

The market craves stability and transparency. As an efficient auction mechanism, it relies on visibility to price stocks and economic activity. Typically, the market—and people in general—do not like change, but this time, as we stand at the precipice of a tremendous change, what we are seeing is actually a potential return to real stability, normality and transparency.

TwentyFour AM partner and portfolio manager Douglas Charleston discusses Q4 performance for ABS markets and provides his outlook for 2021.

TwentyFour AM partner and portfolio manager Chris Bowie looks back at investment grade credit market performance in 2020 and provides his outlook for 2021

Where will bond markets go in 2021? The team heads of the Fixed Income Boutique give you their top predictions for the year.

Just like mountaineering, bond investing is about managing risks. In this Viewpoint Claudia Fontanive-Wyss and Stefan Hüsler from the Corporate Credit team explain how to conquer the corporate credit summit.

For high yield issuers 2021 has started in a similar vein to 2020, with the technical backdrop providing an attractive environment for capital raising.

Will the markets recover in 2021? When will we get back to normal? What effect will the vaccines have on economic performance? The Virtual Investors Roundtable 2021 was all about the “year after”.