I have never completely understood why pension funds seem to embrace private equity so whole-heartedly, yet allocations to the high yield market are still fairly limited.  Yes, I get the fact that pensions have that 7-8% annual obligation that needs … Continue reading →

Markets are cautious this morning weighing where we’ll trade next after the massive run year to date, continuing negative headlines out of Europe and some comments this morning out of Bernanke. In high yield-land, the focus remains on earnings and … Continue reading →

I have written over and over again about active management versus passive or “index-based” management and their differences in holdings and management styles.  I have discussed the types of securities that active managers put into their client portfolios versus what … Continue reading →

Despite the JP Morgan conference, eight new deals were announced yesterday and more today; with yields of 5-6%, there are plenty of high yield companies thrilled to bring deals to the market and lock in these low rates. Yesterday, pending … Continue reading →

This morning the JPM conference kicks off in Florida, and with many high yield market participants attending, volume is expected to be a little lower than usual this week. Despite some empty chairs and some negative news out of Europe, … Continue reading →

High yield bonds continued their strong performance this week aided by improving U.S. economic sentiment and less fear over the European situation. For the week, the spread on the Bank of America High Yield Master Index (BAML) tightened 19bps bps … Continue reading →

Let me understand something, Americans have lost $16,000,000,000,000 in wealth since the financial crisis started and Bill Gross has previously said that the U.S. has ~$75,000,000,000,000 in debt when you add Social Security and Medicare liabilities,1 yet the government is … Continue reading →

The big news of the morning is the overnight approval of the Greek bailout, to the surprise of absolutely nobody. While the debate will be whether or not this bailout will actually fix anything, it will be interesting to see … Continue reading →

Despite a mid-week sell of due to the Greek bailout agreement being postponed until at least next week, the high yield market finished the week on a strong tone, with U.S. data continuing to support a strong market. On the … Continue reading →

2012 has gotten off to a roaring start in the U.S. financial markets.  Through the first month and a half, we have seen the S&P rise almost 7% and the NASDAQ up nearly 12%.*  Admittedly, there have been some signs … Continue reading →