Corporate Bonds

Most financial assets are trading within the confines of the feedback loop between markets and Fed policy. Investors should avoid expensive assets such as spread product, and hold positions with attractive long-term value such as U.S. TIPS over nominal Treasuries and U.S. Treasuries over German bunds.

Most financial assets are trading within the confines of the feedback loop between markets and Fed policy. Investors should avoid expensive assets such as spread product, and hold positions with attractive long-term value such as U.S. TIPS over nominal Treasuries and U.S. Treasuries over German bunds.

The balance of risks favors accelerating wages and stable core inflation during the next few months. This will result in a move higher in rate hike expectations, benefitting Treasury curve flatteners.

This week <i>Global Alpha Sector Strategy</i> in conjunction with <i>Emerging Markets Strategy</i> is sending out a <i>Special Report</i> on EM deep cyclical sectors, discussing debt and cash flow dynamics, identifying how far advanced the capital expenditure down cycle is, and determining if recent EM deep cyclical strength should be bought or faded.

We do not expect Russia and OPEC members to reach a production-limiting agreement at the April 17 meeting in Doha, but that does not diminish our bullish expectations for a rebalancing of oil markets in H2 2016.

The ECB's intended purchases of corporate bonds will not sustainably lift the asset-class. But we have found a compelling long-term opportunity in the sovereign bond market, and a way to hedge Brexit risk.

Some tentative signs of life in the global manufacturing data suggest that Treasury yields have some room to move higher in the near term.

We continue to recommend a cautious investment stance, staying at benchmark duration, as the recovery in risk assets looks more like a counter-trend rally than the start of a new bullish run.

We are sending you the Q2 <i>Global Investment Strategy Outlook</i>, which discusses the ten predictions we expect to drive global financial markets throughout the rest of the year.

Several tail risks appear less ominous compared to last month. Nonetheless, the earnings outlook has not improved and the FOMC will turn more hawkish ahead of the June meeting. Stay defensively positioned.