TwentyFour

Elena Rinaldi gives an update on the market, highlighting the peak in rates in the quarter, the performance of ABS for the quarter, and delving deeper into the primary issuance activity over the summer months.

This morning the ONS published its monthly update on the UK labour market. Of all the G7 countries, the UK has had the most puzzling labour market dynamics post pandemic, as we discussed in a previous blog.

Fixed income investors have gone through a stressful few weeks. Since the beginning of September, government bond yields have moved sharply higher, causing spreads to widen and returns to worsen across the board. 

Johnathan Owen, Portfolio Management, reflects on why the AT1 market has been brought into the spotlight this year, following the events of the US regional banking crisis and Credit Suisse.

Our most recent Spotlight on ESG: Unlocking sustainable opportunities within ABS webinar, hosted by Pauline Quirin and Elena Rinaldi, explored European ABS from an ESG perspective.

It is our view that without a doubt 2022 was a year to forget for the bond market. Whether you held government bonds, high end corporate credit or riskier high yield paper, you would have taken a knock as steep increases in interest rates across the globe sent bond prices tumbling. 

After what can only be described as a relatively dire year for fixed income in 2022, during which spiralling inflation led to one of the most aggressive rate hiking cycles on record, we believe the market for bonds is now looking much healthier.

Our most recent ABS Investor Update webinar, hosted by Douglas Charleston and Aza Teeuwen provided an outlook for the European ABS market and why they think investors should be considering the asset class as a long term investment in an environment where we have reached peak rates and a soft landing is expected. 

Since the last Federal Open Market Committee rate decision on September 20, rates markets have sold off very aggressively. And, despite rates being left on hold, the hawkish message, which included the possibility of another hike this year and less cuts next year than previously forecast, was one of the key contributing factors behind the ~55bps increase in the 10-year treasury in the 10 days following that meeting.

This paper takes a deep dive into the flourishing ESG sector and examines the trends, challenges, and opportunities that have emerged in recent years, with a particular focus on data quality, the expansion of ESG labelled bonds, action from central banks and whether or not the green premium or ‘greenium’ makes sense for issuers.

George Curtis, Portfolio Management explores how our portfolio will perform in the event we don’t get the expected soft landing.  

Our most recent TwentyFour Sustainable Strategic Income Fund webinar, hosted by Charlene Malik and Dillon Lancaster, provided a macro update for fixed income markets, before looking at positioning of the fund and ESG engagements they have recently carried out.