FICC Focus

“I spend most of my time trying to downplay the stuff that you find fascinating, right?,” Joele Frank Partner Michael Freitag says. “The inter-creditor interaction, the creditor versus sponsor interaction, the creditor versus issuer action. We try to position all of that as this noise, this thing going off to the side, being managed by sophisticated investors and sophisticated advisors.” In this e...

Foreign demand for emerging-market local debt is improving, as overseas investors pursue yield differentials amid diminishing currency volatility. Bertrand Delgado, head of Latin America strategy at Societe Generale, joins Damian Sassower, Bloomberg Intelligence’s chief emerging market fixed income strategist, to assess macroeconomic conditions across Latin America and the broader EM landscape, wi...

“The Federal Reserve was created to have a degree of what I like to call operational independence”, says Federated Hermes Deputy Chief Investment Officer for Fixed Income RJ Gallo on this Macro Matters edition of the FICC Focus podcast series. He joins host and Bloomberg Intelligence Chief Interest Rate Strategist Ira Jersey to discuss future movements of the Treasury yield curve, recent economic...

Credit fared better than rates and equities through multiple crises this year across the globe — France, tariffs, Fed concerns and even the UK worries. In this episode of the Credit Crunch podcast, host Mahesh Bhimalingam, Bloomberg Intelligence’s global head of credit strategy, discusses these crises and the multi-asset outlook with Iain Stealey, international CIO of global fixed income at JPMorg...

Institutional demand has been slow to return to the muni market in 2025, leaving performance at the long end under pressure. Yet signs are emerging that banks, insurance companies, and crossover buyers may be stepping back in as tax clarity improves and relative value looks more compelling. In this episode of FICC Focus, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Karen Altamirano is joined by her former co-ho...

The real yield curve may steepen from both ends much further then it has, Mizuho Securities Head of Macro Strategy Dominic Konstam says on this Macro Matters edition of FICC Focus podcast. Konstam joins host Ira Jersey, head of interest-rate strategy at Bloomberg Intelligence. After reviewing Konstam’s career arc, the two discuss term premium and how shifts in the yield curve could effect risk ass...

Fiscal policy returned to the forefront of G10FX drivers in early September — which isn’t particularly positive for the dollar — and part of the structural bear case we identified earlier this year. In this episode of FICC Focus, Bloomberg Intelligence Chief G10FX Strategist Audrey Childe-Freeman and Dr Win Thin, chief economist at Bank of Nassau 1982 Limited argue that the dollar’s next leg lower...

Commercial real estate debt strategies continue to unlock value for institutional investors as providing credit solutions across the capital stack grows increasingly more complex. Jim Dunbar, partner and head of Real Estate Lending at Varde Partners, joins BI chief fixed income strategist Damian Sassower to discuss his firm’s approach to identifying opportunities and managing risk in commercial an...

Defense burden-sharing among US allies is a cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s international agenda, but has been overshadowed by tariff discussions. On this Macro Matters edition of the FICC Focus podcast series, George Ferguson, senior aerospace/defense & airline analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, joins host and BI chief interest-rate strategist Ira Jersey to discuss shifts in defense spend...

Significant Risk Transfers or SRTs have been a crucial part of balance sheet management for banks and an attractive investment class within private credit for credit investors looking for alternatives to public credit markets. Demystifying SRTs and understanding the process and evaluation of these assets is crucial for credit investors. In this episode of the Credit Crunch podcast, Mahesh Bhimalin...

The perception of the UK economic outlook on a macro level may be perceived to be negative through the lens of social media. In this edition of the All Options Considered podcast, BI chief global derivatives Strategist Tanvir Sandhu is joined by Dan Hanson, chief UK economist at Bloomberg Economics to discuss the state of the economy, bond market volatility and the fiscal outlook.

“So it’s a tough situation when you’re managing a spread-based portfolio, like a CLO. And obviously we don’t have the luxury of tightening the spreads on the liability side,” says Matt Bloomfield, partner at Palmer Square and president of Palmer Square Capital BDC, when discussing the current pace of re-pricings across the leveraged loan market. Bloomfield joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s Noel Heber...

The future of the dollar is dictated by the large overhang of unhedged dollar assets, says Hemant Baijal, head of macro alpha strategies at Invesco. Baijal joins Ira Jersey, Bloomberg Intelligence’s head of US interest-rate strategy, and Will Hoffman, BI’s senior US and Canada rates-strategy associate, on this episode of the Macro Matters podcast to discuss the world of international bond funds. T...

Global credit is very tight and strategic insights are very valuable at this juncture. In this latest episode of the Credit Crunch podcast, Mahesh Bhimalingam, Global Head of Credit Strategy hosts the Global Credit Strategy team to highlight worldwide research, data and views. Meet Tim Tan and Jason Lee (Asia), Basel Al-Waqayan (Middle East), Heema Patel (Europe) and Reto Bachmann (Structured Fina...

The record-breaking pace of muni issuance and investors’ risk-off tone toward duration have driven a sharp steepening of the municipal yield curve, leaving it trailing other fixed-income sectors. In an environment also marked by market volatility and shifting policy dynamics, the case for active management in munis has never been stronger. In this episode of the Masters of the Muniverse podcast, B...

“So for us, it’s a $40 trillion market,” says John Cortese, head of portfolio management at Apollo, when talking about the mostly investment grade opportunity in private credit, including asset backed deals and corporates. Cortese joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s Noel Hebert on this episode of the Credit Crunch podcast to talk about where the growth comes from, the evolution of a secondary market an...

Emerging market economies are benefiting from better-than-expected growth and inflation expectations, with local rates looking set to outperform amid a more dovish US Federal Reserve. Dirk Willer, managing director and global head of macroeconomic research at Citigroup, joins Damian Sassower, Bloomberg Intelligence’s chief emerging-market fixed-income strategist, to assess the fixed-income landsca...

JPMorgan’s Phoebe White, head of inflation strategy, says a September interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve risks pushing inflation expectations higher. She joins Bloomberg Intelligence Chief US Interest Rate Strategist Ira Jersey on this Macro Matters episode of the FICC Focus podcast to discuss how Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities and inflation derivatives work, how investors use them...

“I want a decent proportion of my returns to be from actively trading either through themes, individual instruments or...between EM and DM, between Europe and the US,“ says Andrew Jackson, head of Investments and leader of the Fixed Income Boutique for Vontobel. Jackson joined Bloomberg Intelligence’s Noel Hebert and Damian Sassower on this episode of the Credit Crunch podcast to talk beta vs. alp...

On the latest episode of Bloomberg Intelligence’s State of Distressed podcast, Andrew Axelrod, founder & CEO of Axar Capital, shares how focused distressed debt buyers such as Axar Capital are often the best bid for middle-market troubled loans as they stand ready to commit capital and sweat equity to the turnaround. In his conversation with BI’s Chief US Credit Strategist Noel Hebert and Senior C...

History suggests that technology improves lives and standards of living, despite the fears that often accompany it, says Brian Levitt, global market strategist at Invesco. On this Macro Matters episode of the FICC Focus podcast series, Levitt is joined by host Ira Jersey, Bloomberg Intelligence’s head of US interest-rate strategy, and Will Hoffman, BI senior US and Canada rates-strategy associate,...

The cyclically and structurally dollar bearish narrative that dominated 1H have just been revived by the weakness in the July Non Farm Payrolls figures and associated dovish Fed expectations adjustment (cyclically dollar negative) as well as by the controversial and highly unexpected firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Chief (structurally dollar negative). Bloomberg Intelligence's Chief G10 F...

Real estate private credit has grown into a major source of debt financing for the US commercial real estate market, bridging the gap left by traditional banks and lenders. Josh Zegen, principal and co-founder of Madison Realty Capital, joins BI Chief Fixed Income Strategist, Damian Sassower to discuss his firm’s approach to loan origination, acquisition, servicing and valuation. Zegen and Sassowe...

There’s a wall of money that is a transcendent supportive influence over global assets, says Russ Brownback, co-portfolio manager of the BlackRock Strategic Income Opportunities Fund on this episode of the FICC Focus Podcast. Chief US Interest Rate Strategist Ira Jersey hosts this Macro Matters edition delving into Brownback’s views on the dollar remaining the global reserve currency, finding yiel...

Mortgage-market investors will need to pay especially close attention to policy shifts and actions in coming weeks, says Erica Adelberg, chief mortgage strategist for Bloomberg Intelligence. On this Macro Matter’s episode of the FICC Focus podcast series, Adelberg is joined by host Ira Jersey, BI’s head of US interest-rate strategy, to discuss the mortgage-backed securities market. Adelberg explor...