As Bond Yields Rise, Some Investors Fear Another False Dawn

Promising signs in the bond market, as yields are heading higher around the world, a move typically linked to rising expectations of economic growth and inflation. Source: The Wall Street Journal As the Federal Reserve’s policy-setting committee prepares to meet on Tuesday, one signal suggests that investors believe the economy, and financial markets, may be finding…

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Emerging Markets Corporate Bonds Look Good

Emerging market corporate bonds offer a reasonable prospect of both, risk and return. Source: Barrons Where can you get 5% annual returns and still sleep at night? Emerging market corporate bonds offer a reasonable prospect of both, according to Loomis Sayles. Acknowledging the risks — pressure on commodity prices, wobbly global growth, and rising U.S. interest…

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‘Spring Cleaning’ in the Credit Markets

Rating agencies downgrade companies from one category to another adding to volatility in trading levels. Source: Wall Street Journal Rating agency downgrades are helping shift the pricing dynamics across the U.S. corporate bond market. As credit raters drop their outlooks across the sector, the amount of additional yield that investors demand over super-safe Treasurys is rising…

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Corporate Bonds As A Risk Remedy

High-quality corporate bonds boast half the volatility of stocks, are relatively safe as defaults are rare, and offer attractive yields. Source: Barron’s Riskier investments had a good run for the past six weeks but seem to be running out of gas. By the end of last week, oil was lower, and stocks and high-yield bonds were…

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M&A Bankers Saying No to More Junk

Banks retreat from the lucrative but risky business of backing debt-heavy buyouts. Source: Wall Street Journal Banks are increasingly turning down companies seeking financing to pay for debt-laden takeovers after the recent market rout left them saddled with debt from earlier deals. Credit Suisse Group, Jefferies Group and Wells Fargo are among the firms turning down…

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European Bond Market Rally Continues

The European Central Bank surprised investors last week with announcement that it will start buying corporate bonds. It certainly is an unprecedented central-bank stimulus measure what leaves more questions than answers at this point in time. Source: Wall Street Journal The European Central Bank’s announcement that it will start buying corporate bonds continued to boost credit…

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Junk-Bond Rebound Signals Easing Fear

Strong economic signals from US high yield market. Source: Wall Street Journal The riskiest part of the U.S. corporate-bond market is staging a comeback, marking an upswing in investor confidence following a turbulent start to the year. Returns on junk bonds, debt issued by heavily indebted companies that carry low credit ratings, turned positive for 2016…

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J.P. Morgan Lays Out Its Technology Plans

Overbond

Very interesting new development at JP Morgan applying FinTech solutions to debt capital markets. Source: Wall Street Journal The largest U.S. bank by assets is expected to detail its technology spending strategy throughout different presentations from Chief Executive James Dimon and his top lieutenants. Actions range from new spending on fintech to cutting costs on technology…

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