Seven years since the start of the financial crisis and it’s ever harder to dismiss the notion that Europe is turning Japanese.
Now this is far from a new comparison, and the suggestions made by many since 2008 that the developed world was on course to repeat Japan’s experience now appear wide of the mark (we’ve discussed our own view of the topic previously here and here). The substantial pick…
Read the articleThere has been a lot of comment recently on the slimming down at Barclays investment bank. This has generally been couched as a change in business plan, with less of a focus on fixed income, commodities and derivatives, to a less capital intensive more traditional model. One of the interesting things for us is that this is not an idiosyncratic event, but part of a trend.
Barclays, like RBS, UBS…
Read the articleOn 29th April, Energy Future Holdings Corp (the energy business formerly known as TXU) filed for Chapt 11 bankruptcy, listing $49.7bn in debt liabilities. This came after several months of back and forth negotiations between various creditors and the owners of the business. As such the filing was widely expected and the market had been pricing this in.
One thing that was quite an eye-opener, ho…
Read the articleA few of the M&G bond team recently visited New York and Chicago on a research trip. We put together a short video to share some of our thoughts regarding US credit markets. A particular focus is the U.S. high yield market where we highlight some sector themes. We also consider the potential impact on U.S. credit spreads when the Fed starts to raise interest rates.
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As is usually the case on 1 May, there was a plethora of articles and commentary on the “sell in May and go away” effect. If you are unfamiliar with this highly sophisticated trading strategy, it involves closing out any equity exposure you may have on 30 April and re-investing on 1 November. Historically, U.S. equities have underperformed in the six-month period commencing May and ending in Oc…
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