I have a friend who is mildly wealthy but not gainfully employed. He has been a customer of the same bank for the past 40 years. Like me, he doesn’t own a house. Unlike me, he has been thinking about it. Show More
The credit market sounded the warning siren well ahead of the GFC: credit spreads blew out in July 2007, before equity markets peaked in November 2007. In this short interview, Charlie Jamieson at JCB warns that while it is early on in the process, credit markets have recently started widening... Show More
You know it’s late in the credit cycle when credit investors give away their key protections in return for just a little more yield. This acquiesce comes in different forms, including higher levels of leverage, longer dated debt, subordinated debt and weakened or eliminated covenants commonly referred to as “covenant... Show More
In my AFR column I argue that Donald Trump's "tape bombs" are the tail wagging the global financial market dog right now, and this volatility begets opportunity (click on that link to read for free or AFR subs can click here for direct access). Excerpt enclosed: Show More
The increasing gap between US dollar Libor and overnight index swaps (OIS) this year is garnering much attention as it was one of the earliest signs of problems in 2007. Libor is a compilation of the interest rates that major global banks charge when lending to their peers. The OIS... Show More
Despite the complex name, securitization is a simple concept. Securitization is taking an illiquid pool of assets and converting them to liquid securities. Securitization got a bad rap in the wake of the GFC, but in Australia, there are important differences to the “sub-prime” market in the USA. This video... Show More
The volatility genie has now been released and is unlikely to go back in the bottle as late cycle fiscal expansion in the US combined with higher global funding rates from the US Federal Reserve will have markets on their toes going forward. Show More
At the height of the financial crisis, credit markets seized up and liquidity disappeared. In the aftermath of Lehman’s bankruptcy, this caused huge headaches for investors, institutions, and regulators. It may surprise you to learn then, that turnover in these markets is lower today than it was at the nadir... Show More
With the increase in the American overnight rate and long term bond yields questions are starting to be asked about whether the federal government debt load is sustainable. As interest rates increase, so does the interest bill. Neither major political party seems to care, they have taken turns at making... Show More
The average variable home loan rate in Australia has fallen from 8.3% to 5.1% in the past ten years, enabling households to borrow more and drive house prices higher. Despite higher levels of household debt, Australians’ level of mortgage stress is quite low. But what if interest rates go up?... Show More
We expect 2018 to be a stable year for Australian fixed income, with the performance of the domestic economy constraining the RBA’s ability to increase interest rates in the near-term. This is predominantly the result of weak wage growth and inflation running below the RBA’s target. The former is due... Show More
Guns N’ Roses released their first debut album titled “Appetite for Destruction” in July 1987. Three months later one of the most violent and unexpected equity market corrections in US history occurred. The Dow lost 22.6% of its value on Black Monday, and the causes behind the dramatic fall are... Show More
Economic news was strong in October, led by US Q3 GDP coming at an annualised rate of 3.0%. Quarterly earnings and sales for S&P 500 companies are beating estimates by more than usual. One standout was bellwether stock Caterpillar, which after four years of declining revenue has seen sales up... Show More
The issue of bonds by Tajikistan this month follows on from recent low quality bond issues from Argentina, Greece and Iraq. Emerging market debt investors piled into the offering allowing the nation to issue US$500 million of ten year bonds at 7.125%. Investors who bought in cited the yield on... Show More
One of the classic signs that the credit cycle is nearing the end is that borrowers that shouldn’t be getting financed not only get funded, but get it at terms that seem crazy. I’ve recently written about the silly things happening in global high yield debt, Chinese debt and the... Show More
The recent collapse of a Spanish bank, two Italian banks, and a missed payment on tier one notes from a German bank reinforced some core beliefs for investing in bank capital. These are:- Show More
Another month of small gains in equities and credit, whilst commodities continued to fall back. Equities were up in Japan (2.4%), China (1.5%) and the US (1.2%) with Europe pretty much flat (-0.1%). Australian equities (-3.4%) were the standout loser. High yield and investment grade credit in the US and... Show More
With the consensus slowly but surely shifting to expect rate hikes from the RBA, it's worth thinking about the impact of RBA hiking cycles on asset markets. One asset class we recently looked at is Australian credit spreads - we took a look at a few different drivers, and the... Show More
For years I have been told that secondary corporate bond, or "credit", markets are illiquid and difficult to trade in. The problem is that anyone who actively trades credit knows that this is a myth. Last month I put $500m of new money to work in credit in a matter... Show More
The Trump rally took a breather in March with risk assets mixed. Equities were flat in the US and China, rose in Europe (5.5%) and Australia (2.7%) and fell in Japan (-1.1%). US investment grade and high yield credit gave up a small portion of the recent gains. Commodities mostly... Show More
