A version of this article originally appeared in the Financial Times last week.
There is a widespread assumption that the European Central Bank — like other major central banks — has reached the limits of monetary policy, and that the best we can hope for with Christine Lagarde’s reign is political astuteness in cajoling reluctant politicians to embrace a fiscal stimulus.
This is n…
Read the article
2019 proved to be a spectacular year for returns in most asset classes and emerging market debt was no exception. Returns were driven by a combination of cheaper valuations to begin with and also helped by the market-wide U-turn in going from pricing in Fed hikes to cuts and by the subsequent US rate rally. Some key risks were also priced out as the year moved on, including the US-China trade…
Read the article
Last year was very eventful in emerging markets with its share of US tariffs/sanctions, regime changes in many countries, mass protests across the board and Carlos Ghosn escaping Japan to soon-to-default Lebanon on the very last day of the year! 2020 promises many geopolitical risks. We have compiled some of the key risks below for developing economies, including “the biggest crisis no one is …
Read the article
Ukrainian fixed income assets have performed better than
expected this year, and delivered one of the highest returns in the emerging
market universe. Since the beginning of 2019, Ukraine’s five-year USD bond
spread has tightened by about 370bp, while the JP Morgan EMBI saw spread
compression of just 70bp year to date. Political novice Volodymyr Zelenskiy and
his Servant of the People (SP) par…
Yesterday evening, FTSE Russell announced that
China Government Bonds (CGBs) would not be added to the widely followed FTSE
World Government Bond Index, but remain on the watch list for inclusion until
further review. This came as a surprise for most investors: Bloomberg Barclays
and JP Morgan both recently added CGBs and bank policy bonds to their index
suites. In challenging times for the Ch…
All eyes are on central banks these days as major
monetary policy decisions have been driving global bond markets. The eagerly
awaited September meeting of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank
(ECB) has given bond investors much food for thought. In particular, the new
round of its asset purchase programme (APP)—announced in true ECB fashion revealing
only the bare minimum of det…
As the year of the 325th anniversary of the Bank of England’s foundation, and as the month of one of the Bank’s more important rate-setting decisions since 2008, September provides a congruous occasion on which to reflect on the history of the BoE and consider what the future holds for it. Founded in 1694 as a private bank to the government, it was in 1998 that the BoE was granted independence…
Read the articleIndex-linked markets were sent into a tailspin yesterday as Chancellor Sajid Javid responded to an earlier letter from the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), which had set out recommendations for the reform of the RPI. The longest-dated linkers (maturing in 2065 and 2068) fell by more than 9% as breakeven rates plummeted.
Javid’s response contained three big shocks for index-linked markets:
…
Read the article
Last night, the US Treasury designated China as a currency manipulator. This has occurred a few times in the past, most recently in 1994. Though China has been on the Treasury’s watch list for some time (alongside several other countries), given that the most recent Treasury report published in May did not name China a manipulator, it begs the question, what has changed between then and now?
…
Read the articlePlease note the content on this website is for Investment Professionals only and should be shared responsibly. No other persons should rely on the information contained within this website.
