The Weekly Fix

What if the midterm result that matters most for AI infrastructure isn't in Congress at all? Andrzej Skiba, Head of U.S. Fixed Income on the BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, breaks down the implications for markets. 📊 The Texas governor race outcome carries major implications for AI data center development 💡 Slower permitting creates clear winners and losers across the entire compute supply chain...

What happens when the Federal Reserve rewrites its own playbook? @Laurie Mount, Portfolio Manager on the BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, breaks down what the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting means for anyone managing short-term cash. 🏦 The Federal Reserve is reshaping its meeting schedule, changing the rhythm of rate decisions 💡 Positioning and flexibility take on added importance in...

What happens when an entire generation gets priced out of homeownership? Eric Hathaway, Portfolio Manager on the BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, breaks down the structural shifts reshaping the U.S. housing market. 📊 First-time homebuyers are vanishing from the market at an unprecedented pace, with the median buyer age climbing dramatically ⚠️ Rising mortgage costs continue to push homeownership f...

Is AI a trap for bond investors - or a buying opportunity in disguise? Andrzej Skiba, Head of U.S. Fixed Income on the BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, breaks down what's happening in AI-related fixed income and why it matters. Heavy issuance and leveraged investor capitulation have reshaped sentiment across AI-related credit The supply-demand imbalance has created a buyer's market for new deals co...

What if the real opportunity in fixed income isn't just higher yields, it's who holds the leverage? Anne Greenwood, Institutional Portfolio Manager on the BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, breaks down why growing global demand for capital is shifting power toward bondholders. Governments, companies, and AI infrastructure are all competing for the same capital When financing needs outpace investor ap...

What happens when the technical that usually supports credit starts working against it? Ben Romeo, Senior Trader on the BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, unpacks the shift. Rate volatility and inflation concerns are reshaping the buyer base Issuers are pulling back from the long end, redirecting demand to the secondary market Wider concessions on new issues are giving investors more attractive entry...

What if rising bond yields are actually an opportunity in disguise? Neil Sun, Portfolio Manager on the BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team breaks down what's driving the rate move and how investors should position. Higher starting yields provide a stronger income foundation The investment case doesn't require a sharp fall in interest rates Opportunities are uneven across the bond market The recent rise...

A Federal Reserve hike lifts yields, but attractive income alone does not mean investors are being paid for the credit risk they take. Higher yields strengthen the foundation for income, but an attractive yield alone doesn't mean you're being paid for credit risk—both must be assessed together. Curve positioning matters: short-term yields may rise with policy rates, while persistent deficits and c...

Stubborn inflation has the Fed cornered while AI's biggest leaders call to slow down, two forces reshaping the outlook investors face right now. August inflation ran hot, pushing the market to price a roughly 90% chance of a September rate hike. The Trump administration's push for rate cuts leaves Fed Chair Warsh caught between stubborn inflation and political pressure to ease policy. Leaders of t...

What happens when the Fed runs out of good options? That's the question hanging over markets after a hawkish Jackson Hole. This week, Tim Leary, Senior Portfolio Manager on the BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, unpacks what Chair Warsh's stance means for rates and risk. AI adoption and capex spend remain key drivers of US growth Higher-for-longer rates shape the market backdrop Tim explores the cred...

Can the Treasury buy its way out of a yield problem? Andrzej Skiba, Head of U.S. Fixed Income on the BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, breaks down what's really driving long Treasury yields—and why short-term fixes fall short. Treasury buybacks briefly eased long yields before markets grew skeptical The credible solution is deficit reduction, but political appetite for spending cuts looks limited Tr...

Where did the riskiest borrowers in credit actually go? Anne Greenwood, Institutional Portfolio Manager on the BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, unpacks how credit risk is migrating—and why the high yield label no longer tells the whole story. The high yield market has grown higher in quality, yet risk hasn't disappeared—it's moved. Much of it has migrated into leveraged loans and private credit ove...

What happens when the unemployment rate falls even as jobs disappear? Mindy Gudmundson, Institutional Portfolio Manager on RBC GAM’s BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, unpacks a week of mixed market signals and what they reveal about the labor market beneath the headlines. Job losses concentrated in consumer-facing sectors hint at a cooling labor market A falling unemployment rate reflects workers le...

What happens when a divided Fed meets a bond market that's doing its own thing? Laurie Mount, Portfolio Manager with RBC BlueBay's US Fixed Income team, breaks down the latest Federal Open Market Committee decision and what it means for your cash strategy. A split committee with growing dissent among voting members The long end of the Treasury curve is telling a very different story Why staying li...

What happens when the race to build AI infrastructure meets the realities of credit markets? Andrzej Skiba, Head of BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income at RBC GAM, breaks it down in this week's episode. The AI buildout is reshaping how credit markets work. Debt issuance is climbing as companies finance the expansion. In-depth credit underwriting is what separates the strongest opportunities from the rest. W...

Record asset-backed securities (ABS) issuance. Spreads at year-to-date tights. But underneath, a bifurcated consumer is quietly narrowing the margin for error. Teri Savage, Senior Trader on RBC GAM's BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, breaks down what's driving the ABS market's record pace, and why security selection has never mattered more. ABS gross issuance is on pace for a record year, fueled by...

Tight spreads don't tell the whole story. The most compelling opportunities in US credit right now may be hiding in plain sight. Anne Greenwood, Institutional Portfolio Manager on RBC GAM's BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, breaks down why the U.S. high yield market's quiet quality transformation is creating real opportunity for active managers - just as the AI trade begins to test investor appetite...

Fed hikes may be overpriced, but yields stay supported by AI-driven growth. IG carry remains strong as record supply tests spreads. The Treasury curve is expected to steepen in the second half of 2026: front-end yields may ease as oil-driven inflation pressure subsides and markets have potentially priced in too many Fed hikes under Chair Warsh's data-dependent regime, while robust AI-related inves...

The Federal Reserve's pivot under new leadership is reshaping the fixed income landscape, and investors need to be ready. Laurie Mount, Portfolio Manager on RBC GAM's BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, breaks down what changed at the Fed's latest meeting and how investors should think about navigating this shift. Warsh's first meeting as Fed chair delivered a hawkish surprise, with officials now proj...

The Fed's dual mandate faces unique challenges as artificial intelligence (AI) adoption creates new uncertainty around employment and rate trajectory. Tim Leary, Senior Portfolio Manager on RBC GAM's BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, examines how AI-driven economic transformation is reshaping the outlook for rates and credit markets. Strong fundamentals support elevated rates - US gross domestic pro...

Capital formation replaces innovation as AI's next frontier: a new $85B raise and $1.5 trillion financing gap signal that hyperscaler balance sheets alone cannot fund the infrastructure buildout, forcing debt into utilities, private credit, and securitized markets. Anne Greenwood, Institutional Portfolio Manager on RBC GAM's BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, examines how AI is transitioning from a t...

Built for this moment: Mortgage-backed securities are earning their place in fixed-income portfolios amidst an uncertain rate environment. Teri Savage, Senior Trader on RBC GAM's BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, unpacks how securitized sectors are navigating sticky inflation and shifting Fed expectations. Agency mortgages continue to act as a vital defensive anchor for portfolios during periods of...

Prolonged Middle East tensions drive aggressive bond selloffs across global markets, but strong corporate earnings and elevated yields keep high yield resilient amid broader fixed income volatility. Andrzej Skiba, Head of BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income, explores how geopolitical fatigue is reshaping market dynamics, the widening Fed-ECB policy split, and why high yield continues to outperform amid bond...

The rapid AI infrastructure buildout draws capital from bonds, banks, and utilities – creating potential for concentration risk exposure. Neil Sun, Portfolio Manager on RBC GAM's BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, breaks down how Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure funding is reverberating throughout public and private credit markets. Hyperscalers are tapping public bonds, private infrastruct...

Historic Fed discord meets Middle East uncertainty: The most dissenting votes since 1992 expose deep divisions as geopolitical risks and energy prices complicate the path forward for U.S. monetary policy. Laurie Mount, Portfolio Manager on RBC GAM's BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team, breaks down last week's Fed meeting where rates held steady, but unprecedented internal disagreement and Middle East t...