Basis Points

With the alphabet soup of facilities that have all been announced by the Fed over the last month, Kevin Flanagan narrows down the scope and focuses in on the programs that involve the financial markets more directly. In other words, the Fed is going bond buying.

Over the last month, the combination of U.S. monetary and fiscal support has not only come at breakneck speed, but perhaps more importantly, at almost unimaginable amounts just a few months ago. On this week’s podcast, Kevin Flanagan provides a solution for fixed income investors that might be feeling a bit dazed and confused.

Recently, the overarching question for fixed income investors has been whether current valuations represent a renewed buying opportunity for the U.S. investment-grade and high-yield corporate arena. On this week’s podcast, Kevin Flanagan answers the more pertinent query: what’s in the price?

Both the Fed and the U.S. federal government provided unprecedented responses to the market turmoil last week. The natural question on investors’ minds is whether the time has come to begin positioning their fixed income portfolios for what comes next. On this week’s podcast, Kevin Flanagan explains why one of the most noteworthy items to consider is your interest rate profile.

The current money and bond market environment has afforded investors the opportunity to review their fixed income asset allocations. So, what are fixed income investors to do? Kevin Flanagan discusses.

The Fed has responded yet again, but this time around, the policy makers made sure their message was heard loud and clear around the globe. Kevin Flanagan discusses.

What if a U.S. jobs report came out and nobody cared? This is the case in the current investment universe that we are now confronted with. In what normally would have been considered a bond-market unfriendly number, it ultimately didn’t matter. Kevin Flanagan discusses.

In this week’s podcast, Kevin Flanagan provides another update on the coronavirus from a bond market perspective.

Looking at the U.S. Treasury market’s reaction to the coronavirus news, there was one by-product that captured the lion’s share of the headlines: the yield curve inverts again! Kevin Flanagan discusses what this recent inversion means for the fixed income market.

With impeachment and State of the Union fireworks receding in the background, a fixed income strategist’s dream would be to return the focus to the normal course of business that emanates out of Washington, D.C. In this week’s podcast, Kevin Flanagan discusses the latest economic data, breaking down the 2020 January jobs report.

This year has gotten off to an unusual start in the financial markets. Typically, the focus would be on the Fed and/or economic developments, but unfortunately the coronavirus has taken center stage. In this week’s podcast, Kevin Flanagan offers insights from a bond market perspective, using the SARS outbreak of November 2002 to July 2003 as a comparative event.

Many investors have been wondering about recent downgrade trends in the U.S. investment grade space. Kevin Flanagan discusses.

There are many factors that investors consider when looking for forward guidance on global interest rate trends. In this week’s podcast, Kevin Flanagan discusses why the German bund market is one factor investors should keep their eye on over the next few months.

Last Friday marked the first ‘real’ data day for the bond market with the release of the final jobs report for 2019. In this week’s podcast, Kevin Flanagan discusses how the December 2019 jobs report falls right in line with our 2020 outlook for the U.S. economy.

The end of December brings “the turn” to fixed income investors’ minds. “The turn” represents the period around the final business day of the calendar year when banks need to address their cash needs to get through this crucial funding period. Kevin Flanagan discusses how the Fed will handle year-end funding pressures.

After three consecutive rate cuts, the Fed decided to stay on the sidelines at their final gathering for 2019. Kevin Flanagan discusses the results of today’s FOMC meeting and what fixed income investors should expect from 2020.

Should U.S. Treasury yields be this low, given the current investment landscape? In this week’s podcast, Kevin Flanagan discusses why he believes investors should follow the old adage “Don’t fight the tape.”

While generally 2019 thus far has been a year of falling rates, going forward, the path seems less certain for a host of reasons. Kevin Flanagan discusses.

What a difference a month makes in bond-land. Just when investors thought U.S. Treasury yields were on the verge of moving even lower, a rather visible sell-off ensues. What could have caused such a shift in sentiment? Kevin Flanagan discusses.

With yield curves inverting, trade wars heating up, data on manufacturing softening and the ultimate Federal Reserve change in monetary policy resulting in three rate cuts all occurring simultaneously, it was hard not to succumb to recession fears. The good news is that it looks like the worst of the recession fears may have passed. Kevin Flanagan discusses.

As widely expected, the Federal Reserve once again voted to cut rates at its October FOMC meeting, the third time in 2019. The question that now comes to mind is whether the third time’s a charm. Kevin Flanagan discusses.

Without much fanfare, an interesting development has occurred in the bond market thus far in October: The Treasury yield curve ‘un-inverted’. Does this flash the ‘all clear’ signal for the U.S. economy? Kevin Flanagan discusses.

Reports on inflation have essentially been ‘stealth-like’ and garnered little to no attention. Throughout most of 2019, inflation has had no reason to grab the headlines, should investors be concerned about whether the price is right? Kevin Flanagan discusses.

Before the release of last week’s jobs report, investors were inundated with headlines seemingly suggesting that it wasn’t a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’ would the U.S. economy enter into a recession. However, there are some economic numbers that imply there is no clear and present danger of a contraction. Kevin Flanagan discusses.

In an interesting turn of events, the big news in Fixed Income has not been the recent rate cut. Instead, the dislocations that were witnessed in the funding markets, and attendant Fed responses, seemed to take center stage. Kevin Flanagan discusses.