Fixed income

TwentyFour Portfolio Manager, Elena Rinaldi, explains how European ABS markets behaved in Q1 2022 and provides her outlook for the year ahead.

TwentyFour Partner and Portfolio Manager, Eoin Walsh, discusses market conditions in Q1 2022 and provides his outlook for the year ahead.

So far, most fixed income asset classes have experienced a tumultuous 2022. With high yield markets bucking the trend in recent weeks, George Curtis takes a closer look at the drivers of the sector’s recent strength and its current opportunity set.

Despite the ECB's recent review bringing some previously debated points surrounding AT1s to the forefront, we believe any changes would create undesired, real-world consequences if implemented.

Given the twin pressures of inflation and volatility, we believe the inherent strengths of short term bonds can give investors some comfort through this uncertain phase of the cycle.

We think a base case that central banks will follow a more measured monetary policy path than markets are currently pricing in is reasonable given the current backdrop.

Global bond markets have moved sharply in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as investors have tried to assess the impact of an unprecedented raft of financial and economic sanctions.

Default rate estimations depend on how you define defaults and what index you use, but there is no doubt we are at record lows in European high yield at the moment.

With inflation soaring and the economic recovery looking more fragile, we look at three famous central bank policy errors to demonstrate why they can be so dangerous for investors, and consider how a fixed income portfolio can be strengthened against the risk.

For our Q1 fixed income event, Mark Holman, portfolio manager at Vontobel boutique TwentyFour Asset Management, provided an update on the firm’s flagship, global unconstrained strategy, the Vontobel Fund – TwentyFour Strategic Income Fund.

Powell’s hard line may have surprised investors, particularly in light of recent market volatility and increasing geopolitical risk in Eastern Europe, but the Fed’s fear of prolonged higher inflation looks to be trumping those concerns.

TwentyFour Partner and Portfolio Manager, Gordon Shannon, discusses how the short term bond strategy has performed in Q4 2021 and provides his outlook for the new year.

A member of our Multi-Sector Bond team discusses market conditions in Q4 2021 and provides her outlook for the new year.

TwentyFour Partner and Portfolio Manager, Douglas Charleston, explains how ABS markets have performed in Q4 2021 and provides his outlook for the new year.

Inflation was the dominant theme across financial markets in 2021, and we think it is likely to be a big driver of returns again in 2022.

Given the swiftness of the Fed’s pivot we think risks are tilted towards the central bank doing more and not less. We wouldn’t even rule out a 50bp rate hike at some point.

TwentyFour’s Eoin Walsh explains how bond investors can use the three dimensions of credit – amount, quality, duration – to help maximise or protect returns through different stages of the economic cycle.

High-yield bonds can boost fixed income returns in strong markets but can create a drag for investors in downturns. Strategic income strategies give investors more options, allowing them to switch into lower risk securities to access positive returns whatever the road ahead.

As bondholders, we are comforted by all the banks passing such a severe test.

Against a backdrop of 4.20% year-on-year UK consumer price inflation (CPI), if you got your timing right, linkers (inflation-linked UK government bonds) will certainly have outperformed conventional Gilts by some margin.

The labour market in the US shows little sign of weakening, despite the huge number of jobs already created this year.

TwentyFour Asset Management CEO, Mark Holman, looks at five big questions hanging over fixed income as investors look ahead to 2022.

With 2022 expected to be a more challenging year for markets, in his annual outlook TwentyFour Asset Management CEO Mark Holman explains how he believes investors can avoid some big macro headwinds and still target “sensible fixed income-like returns” next year.

Markets have clearly experienced some periods of volatility this year, and while European CLOs haven’t been immune to this, both fundamentals and prices have been remarkably stable.