Monetary

We still recommend a cautious stance on portfolio risk, for both credit and duration exposure, given that monetary policy expectations priced into Developed Market yield curves are already extremely dovish.

Over the coming two weeks, the G3 central banks will be holding key policy meetings that could prove instrumental in setting major FX trends for the next several months. What can currency traders expect?

Near-term, global yields will remain depressed, but the structural forces suppressing yields should abate and even reverse in the long-run. Slower potential GDP growth - and lower commodity prices - will eventually shift from tailwind to headwind for bonds. Stepped-up efforts to increase inflation will boost long-term nominal yields; populist politics and calls to curb income inequality will amplify this trend. Long-term investors should stay neutral global bonds for now, but prepare to shift to a structural underweight beyond this decade.

Are the arguments for overweighting European equities still valid? If so, overweighting relative to what?

The Treasury market is now discounting too slow a pace of Fed tightening, while junk spreads are discounting too rapid an increase in the default rate. This week we examine the risk/reward proposition of temporarily leaning against some prevailing long-run macro trends.

Inflation expectations in the Developed Markets have been adjusting down to the lower trend of actual inflation, although the bulk of this adjustment now appears complete.

China will neither propose nor support any coordinated initiatives among central banks on the RMB issue in G20 meetings this year. RMB bonds will prove attractive to foreign investors, given their higher yields and lower exchange rate volatility.

Where is the most likely mispricing of interest rates today? Plus our latest thoughts on the U.K.'s June 23 referendum on EU membership, and its market implications.

This month's Special Report reviews the main factors driving the "lower for longer" bond yield view. A key finding is that the demographically-driven portion of the expansion in world capital spending has come to a virtual standstill, representing a major hit to underlying demand growth.