TwentyFour

As inflation continues to outstay its welcome in the global economy, we have previously discussed the impact of rising input costs on corporates and how crucial pricing power can be in such a challenging environment.

The vast majority of the high yield universe used the attractive funding conditions last year to term out their maturity profiles. In fact, 2022 maturities in both US and European high yield equate to just 1% of their respective indices.

The broad-based sell-off that has faced investors since the start of this year has been all the more painful because of the breakdown in traditional correlations, which has put conventional hiding places out of reach.

With fears of recession growing, defensive assets like US Treasuries suddenly look to be back in fashion. How can investors prepare their portfolio for recession?

Earnings season is now in full swing, and it has undoubtedly been eventful. During the first quarter, companies have had to navigate multiple obstacles, including surging commodity prices, hawkish central bank policies, a Russian invasion, further supply chain disruptions caused by lockdowns in China, and dwindling consumer confidence.

Collateralised Loan Obligations, or CLOs, are bond instruments issued to fund a specific pool of loans, typically senior secured or ‘leveraged’ loans, to companies. The bonds are split into tranches that can carry different ratings (and yields) according to how senior they are in the CLO’s capital structure, normally from AAA notes at the top to equity notes at the bottom.

Since the end of last year, central bank officials have been falling over themselves to increase their hawkishness around rates, particularly in the US. Even the ECB Governing Council members have been vocal of late.

CRE ABS offers conservatively structured debt features, with generally short duration exposure and a spread premium rewarding the more intensive underwriting and due diligence required.

TwentyFour Partner and Portfolio Manager, Gordon Shannon, describes the developments of the short term bond strategy in Q1 2022.

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.