Government Bonds

With treasury yields moving aggressively higher this year, anyone reading or listening to the financial press will have become very accustomed to headlines highlighting the negative performance of “Bonds”.

George Curtis discusses credit markets in Q4 2020 and provides his outlook for the year ahead

After a tumultuous 2020 which nonetheless delivered strong returns in many asset classes, fixed income investors are expecting a more normalised trading environment in 2021.

The biggest mover so far this year in fixed income markets has been US Treasuries. The curve has bear steepened, with the short end remaining unchanged while longer maturities have sold off by anything between 10bp at the five-year point of the curve and just over 20bp in the 30-year.

The gradual backup in yields since the onset of the pandemic has given Treasuries a little more potency to protect bond portfolios, though we don’t see the rise being anywhere near big enough for them to behave like they used to.

Unlike the past six months, where nearly all new deals performed well in the secondary market, from here on in that is far from guaranteed. Expect winners and losers.

George Curtis discusses Q3 performance for credit markets and provides his outlook for the rest of the year.

Overall, in our view there may be some temporary volatility ahead which investors can try to sidestep or even take advantage of, but it’s probably not worth trying to be too cute as our medium term outlook is still constructive.

Partner and Portfolio Manager Eoin Walsh discusses the future of government bonds

TwentyFour CEO Mark Holman provides a macro outlook before discussing his views on a critical US presidential election and how it could impact the economy and the markets.

Gary Kirk and Eoin Walsh hosted a breakout session on the MSB stage where they provided an update on portfolio performance and their outlook for fixed income markets.

Given most countries are going through the same issues and their fiscal expansions are justified, the relative value has not changed that much.