Market updates

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.

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.

Emerging markets assets have endured a lot of punishment during 2021.

With floating rate assets likely to be high on investors’ shopping lists for 2022, Doug Charleston looks at the floating rate options across fixed income and highlights the highest yielding opportunities.

Fundamentally the outlook for 2022 appears less supportive than it was 12 months ago.

The latest plot twist of the pandemic may have spooked markets in recent days, but the underlying sentiment is still one of worrying exuberance and investors are overlooking businesses in the consumer staples, health care and discretionary sectors that are still in the process of normalizing.

What we are currently experiencing is a disconnect between monetary policy, the economy and the markets, a disconnect that in our view will struggle to survive much longer.

With rising government bond yield curves one of the biggest concerns for fixed income fund managers going into 2022, Eoin Walsh points to interest rate swaps as one option for reducing the rates risk of a portfolio without impacting its credit exposure.

This week the team at TwentyFour have been busy compiling our 2022 fixed income outlook, which will be published next week. There is no doubt we are confronted with a challenging set of circumstances, which will provide investors – not just in fixed income – with headwinds in the year ahead, and in particular we think during the first half.

With environmental and social factors rightly growing in prominence in the field of ESG, TwentyFour portfolio manager Chris Bowie explains why governance should still matter to bond investors

Before the pandemic struck in February 2020, there were 159 million employed Americans; by the end of April that year, 26 million jobs disappeared. Since then, politicians and central bankers have focused on recovering all jobs lost to the pandemic fallout and returning to pre-COVID levels.

Marko Feiertag take a closer look at Santander’s latest consumer ABS transaction, which attracted strong demand despite being increased to a bumper €1.5bn in size.

So that’s the banks, rates, swaps and currency traders that all apparently got the wrong end of the stick. Explaining how you might arrive at a future monetary policy decision is a challenging and fine balancing act, but as Governor of the Bank of England that is of course one your jobs.

With forecasts remaining low and credit fundamentals as supportive as they are, the outlook for US high yield continues to look compelling.

Speculation on the timing of the Bank of England’s first post-pandemic rate hike has been rife. But whether the BoE hikes rates later this week, next month or even waits until after year-end, it is worth thinking about what it will mean for the general public, a step away from the financial markets.

Following a turbulent week for rates markets, Eoin Walsh outlines what investors can expect as the Bank of England and other central banks meet this week.

With a student housing CMBS deal recently brought to market, Kevin Law evaluates the sector’s outlook in the aftermath of COVID-19

With all eyes on November 3 and the Fed’s next move, Paul Kim looks at supply chain disruption in the US and how its cost pressures have shifted the narrative on ‘transitory’ inflation.

TwentyFour Portfolio Manager, Diana Chiu, discusses how the short term bond strategy has performed in Q3 2021 and provides her outlook for the rest of the year.

TwentyFour Partner and Portfolio Manager, Douglas Charleston, explains how ABS markets have performed in Q3 2021 and provides his outlook for the rest of the year.

A member of the Multi-Sector Bond team discusses market conditions in Q3 2021 and provides her outlook for the rest of the year.

After a mixed start to Q4 for risk assets, Elena Rinaldi examines how European ABS and CLO assets have fared so far in Q4 and the factors currently affecting both markets.

Let’s not forget that the BoE dropped rates from 0.75% right down to 0.1% at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic back in March 2020, having only managed to put through two hikes in 2017 and 2018. It has changed course sharply before.