Displaying items by tag: bonds

(New York)

Investors are anxious about the chances of a recession right now. While the Fed doesn’t seem likely to hike us into one any longer, economic fundamentals have just begun to show cracks. It started with housing, then job growth for February, and now it is jobless claims. Jobless claims rose by 6,000 last week after a long stretch of falling numbers. Weekly numbers are seen as less reliable than monthly figures because of random gyrations, but the data could indicate the economy is starting to soften.

FINSUM: It is too early to tell whether this is indicative of a coming softening or just an aberration, but certainly something to pay attention to.

(New York)

If you are of the opinion that rates are not going to move higher, or if just want some great yields and aren’t too worried about rates, take a look at mortgage REIT ETFs. Mortgage REITs are a special subsector of the REIT industry, and have recently become greatly more accessible because of ETFs. For instance, consider the iShares Mortgage Real Estate ETF (REM). The fund has a 30-day SEC yield of 9.36%. It is obviously rate sensitive, but even during last year’s brutal hiking cycle, it only lost 3.75%.

FINSUM: If the Fed stays put this year, which it likely will, these could be a great investment as we head into a downward rate cycle.

(New York)

Bond investors are getting nervous, and not about the Fed or interest rates. Rather, they are worried about corporate credit. Most will be aware that corporate credit issuance surged over the last decade, especially in fringe investment grade BBB debt. Now, investors are fearing a “wall of maturities”. In the next three years, one third of all triple B rated US debt will come due, a huge test for the group of highly indebted companies. Companies will then need to refinance in this much-less-friendly environment. The Bank for International Settlements warns that in the next downturn, many BBB rated bonds will be downgraded to junk, which will cause fire sales.

FINSUM: Our big worry here is that many institutional investors have strict mandates to not hold junk bonds, so if a solid number of companies fall from the BBB level, there will indeed be huge fire sales in credit markets.

(New York)

With all the newfound reticence of the Fed, one important fact remains—they could hike at any time. The Fed was hawkish for a long time, and as dovish as they have suddenly become, a position shift on rates could be quick. Accordingly, when considering income-focused investments, advisors need to be very mindful about rate risk. One way to earn good income while also hedging against rates is to look at short term bond funds. Zero and short duration bond funds have little to no rate/duration risk, which means they can earn income without the threat of big losses coming from movements in rates and yields. Some funds to consider are the ProShares Interest rate hedge family or the Fidelity Limited Term Bond (FJRLX), the latter of which yields 2.89% and has a duration of 2.4 years.

FINSUM: Short-term yields have come up so much that limited term bond funds now look like a great buy for stable income without so much capital risk.

(New York)

We have been tracking the economy closely looking for signs of the pending recession that everyone is so worried about. Labor market data last week set off a lot of red flags, and now things are on even more unsure footing. New data released shows that inflation rose at just 0.2% in February, representing an annual gain of 1.5% over the last twelve months. The low inflation means the Fed is not rushing, with Fed chief Powell commenting last week “With nothing in the outlook demanding an immediate policy response and particularly given muted inflation pressures, the [Federal Open Market] Committee has adopted a patient, wait-and-see approach to considering any alteration in the stance of policy”.

FINSUM: This just seems like a return to the post-Crisis norm that we have had. Maybe we will fall back into the several year mode where growth was 2% and inflation was 1.5%.