Private credit markets have seen tremendous growth over the past decade, establishing themselves as viable sources of funding for companies across the rating spectrum. That growth may not slow down anytime soon, according to Amanda Lynam, head of Macro Credit Research at BlackRock. Lynam joins Noel Hebert and Sam Geier of Bloomberg Intelligence on this episode of Credit Crunch to walk through trends in the corporate-credit space. The discussion hits on how corporate credit spreads could tighten,...
Oct 07, 2024•58 min
“LMEs buy time for the sponsor, but I’m increasingly seeing that that’s all it really does.” Jon Weber, founder of JFW & Co., doesn’t mince words regarding the effectiveness of the popular restructuring strategy. Liability management exercises leave executives with a “sword of Damocles” over their heads, failing to really fix anything and with an aftermath that remains a management distraction, Weber told Bloomberg Intelligence’s Phil Brendel, in October’s feature interview for the State of ...
Oct 04, 2024•1 hr 24 min
In the beige book, you see all 12 districts reporting declining spending in some way shape or form, and that’s unheard of: There is no such thing, and I think that is what got the attention of the Federal Reserve, says Danielle DiMartino Booth, CEO and chief strategist for QI Research. In this edition of the Macro Matters podcast, Booth joins host and Bloomberg Intelligence chief North American rates strategist Ira Jersey to discuss changes to the microstructure of the US Treasury market, as wel...
Oct 03, 2024•26 min
China's recent monetary and fiscal stimulus announcements may bring near-term cyclical relief and add to the bullish case for yuan-proxy currencies like the Australian dollar and may help to contain euro downside amid underwhelming domestic news flow. Yet a longer-term, structural boost is debatable. Host Audrey Childe-Freeman, Bloomberg Intelligence's chief G-10 FX Strategist, talks to Dr Win Thin, Brown Brothers Harriman's global head of market strategy, about how the recent measures from Chin...
Oct 01, 2024•18 min
The corporate credit landscape could face uncertain times ahead, with upcoming elections, policy shifts and global conflicts. Andrew Beckman, Head of Global Credit at FS Investments, joins Credit Crunch’s Noel Hebert and Sam Geier to discuss the firm’s approach to investing across public and private markets. The conversation delves into current risk-reward levels, the credit-quality sweet spot, leveraging the broader FS infrastructure, creditor-on-creditor violence and more. Credit Crunch is par...
Sep 27, 2024•52 min
In this edition of the All Options Considered podcast, BI's Chief Global Derivatives Strategist Tanvir Sandhu is joined by Dan Hanson, Chief UK Economist at Bloomberg Economics. They discuss the BOE, economic outlook and market volatility.
Sep 25, 2024•18 min
Andrew Jackson, head of fixed income at Vontobel Asset Management, joins BI chief emerging market fixed income strategist Damian Sassower, to discuss portfolio positioning and market expectations after the US Federal Reserve’s larger-than-expected interest rate cut. Despite the rise in volatility, investor sentiment toward emerging-market debt remains positive, yet tail risk remains elevated as 4Q approaches. Jackson and Sassower touch on issues ranging from new issuance and secondary-market liq...
Sep 24, 2024•21 min
SVP operates as “one big virtual global office” built on three functional “pillars” — sourcing, dealmaking and its operating partners — according to HJ Woltery, the firm’s co-head of the European investment team. Bloomberg Intelligence’s Noel Hebert and Phil Brendel had an in-depth feature interview with Woltery on European distressed debt. They delved into SVP’s investment approach and how the restructuring landscape varies from the US and among European countries (7:15). Prior to that, Hebert ...
Sep 20, 2024•1 hr 35 min
The new supercore CPI to watch is the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, given US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments on monthly non-farm payroll gains, says Anna Wong, chief US economist for Bloomberg Economics. Wong is joined by Macro Matters podcast host and Bloomberg Intelligence’s chief US rates strategist Ira Jersey to discuss key details and takeaways from the Federal Reserve’s 50-bp rate cut and accompanying policy announcement. The pair unpa...
Sep 19, 2024•23 min
With artificial intelligence tools, we think we can cover more, in more depth and with the same number of people, and we can be faster to market, says David Dwyer, director of global research at Bloomberg Intelligence. In this episode of the Macro Matters podcast, Dwyer joins host and BI chief North American rate strategist Ira Jersey to discuss the future of financial research within the context of rapid technological advancements. With BI celebrating its 15-year anniversary, the pair discuss t...
Sep 16, 2024•21 min
The performance of the broad muni index has been positive this year, while also notably falling short of the stronger showing by its fixed-income counterparts. However, the real winners can be found in the lower-rated muni credit rungs, with the Bloomberg Muni High Yield index leading the way. In the latest Masters of the Muniverse episode of Bloomberg Intelligence’s FICC Focus podcast, Eric Kazatsky and Karen Altamirano are joined by John Loffredo, vice chairman of MacKay Shields, to discuss th...
Sep 13, 2024•41 min
Credit markets have had a strong year, a few blips notwithstanding. After the ECB cut rates twice, the BOE once and with the Fed about to embark on a long cutting cycle, are credit spreads too tight and priced for perfection? Is the rally in yields justified on expected rate cuts until 1H25? In this episode of our Credit Crunch podcast, host Mahesh Bhimalingam, chief European credit strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence and Jamie Irvine, investment director at abdrn, discuss the state of credit a...
Sep 12, 2024•1 hr 3 min
The dollar's status as the ultimate global reserve currency is intact and the currency is still leading on the International Monetary System's key parameters. Yet geopolitics and China's efforts to push for internationalization of the yuan are keeping FX regionalization and de-dollarization topical. Audrey Childe-Freeman, Bloomberg Intelligence's chief G-10 FX strategist, and BI chief Asia FX and rates strategist Stephen Chiu discuss how the looming US presidential election might affect de-dolla...
Sep 03, 2024•17 min
In this edition of the All Options Considered podcast, BI's Chief Global Derivatives Strategist Tanvir Sandhu covers the VIX at 65 being due to market technicals and unreflective of fundamentals, as well as the support for rates volatility from uncertainty around the pace and extent that policy rates decline rather than the direction of travel, which is clear cut.
Aug 30, 2024•8 min
Emerging Market corporate and quasi-sovereign debt is outperforming the broader EM sovereign-credit complex, as the asset class returns to favor following years of below-average bond issuance. In this month’s EM Lens & Look-Through podcast, Emerging Market Portfolio Manager at Schroders Autumn Graham joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s Damian Sassower, chief EM credit strategist, to discuss the risk-return tradeoff in EM corporate credit. Graham and Sassower touch on issuer fundamentals, market d...
Aug 29, 2024•28 min
Macro credit trends tend to be based on more of a feel than precise numbers. In this latest episode of the Credit Crunch podcast, Mahesh Bhimalingam, Chief European Credit Strategist and Heema Patel, Senior Credit Strategy Associate at Bloomberg Intelligence, delve into proprietary research and data on BI STRTE to make macro credit very precise. Explore their novel spread-prediction model with market and macroeconomic drivers, insights on index metrics -- default rates, rating quality/drift and ...
Aug 27, 2024•45 min
The Canadian economy is rife with potholes that could potentially be hit by a policy mistake, says Stuart Paul, US and Canadian economist for Bloomberg Economics. Paul joins Macro Matters podcast host and Bloomberg Intelligence’s Chief North American rate strategist Ira Jersey and senior associate rates strategist Will Hoffman to discuss the state of the country’s economy and rate markets. They talk about the key drivers, outlooks and possible risks across the short and medium term, as well as k...
Aug 22, 2024•25 min
As we edge closer to a US Federal Reserve rate decision and a presidential election, municipal credit will get more attention. In this Masters of the Muniverse podcast, hosts and Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Eric Kazatsky and Karen Altamirano talk to Jennifer Johnston, director of research, municipal bonds, at Franklin Templeton Fixed Income. She discusses how technology enhances credit research and why tax policy, slowing tax collections, falling revenues and pressured hospital margins are a...
Aug 20, 2024•52 min
SLR Capital Partners has built expertise in corporate lending, asset-based financing, life-science credits and other segments over nearly two decades. The firm’s cofounders Michael Gross and Bruce Spohler join Bloomberg Intelligence credit analysts Noel Hebert and Sam Geier to talk about how the firm thinks about underwriting risk across borrowers and the types of investment vehicles they’ve built out. The conversation hits on their principal investment approach, how they deal with problematic l...
Aug 13, 2024•57 min
Don’t expect “gentlemanly” behavior from corporate boards under financial stress, says Hilco Global’s Vice Chairman James H. M. Sprayregen, as they should consider exercising all the rights available to them under credit agreements to maximize enterprise value. Bloomberg Intelligence’s Phil Brendel and Negisa Balluku speak with Sprayregen, who founded Kirkland & Ellis’s restructuring practice more than three decades ago, in this episode of BI’s State of Distressed Debt podcast. They talk abo...
Aug 08, 2024•1 hr 25 min
The great dollar-yen unwind is under way, with the combined shift to much more dovish Fed-easing prospects and more hawkish BOJ expectations the perfect trigger to the unwind of the yen carry trade. Audrey Childe-Freeman, Bloomberg Intelligence's chief G-10 FX strategist, talks to BI's Chief Asia FX and Rates Strategist Stephen Chiu about what is still a negative dollar-yen narrative, while acknowledging that the pace of the recent moves have been extreme and aren't likely to be sustained. Steph...
Aug 06, 2024•15 min
The unemployment rate will surprise the Fed, rising to 4.5% at the end of this year, says Anna Wong, chief US economist for Bloomberg Economics. Wong joins host and Bloomberg Intelligence chief US rates strategist Ira Jersey to unpack the July FOMC meeting. The pair discuss Chairman Jerome Powell’s dovish tilt at the meeting’s Q&A, and what that means for likely rate-policy outcomes. They also the examine potential implications of possible fiscal-policy changes to inflation, trade policy and...
Aug 02, 2024•23 min
With US presidential election campaigns in full swing, we thought it prudent to revisit what this year could mean for the municipal bond market in terms of heightened risks -- and even some scenarios where it would benefit. Though past election years have returned more wins than losses for munis, macroeconomic issues accompanying the election will remain a hurdle. To discuss possible threats and the latest federal income-tax developments, hosts Eric Kazatsky and Karen Altamirano are joined by An...
Jul 31, 2024•49 min
Increased electronification and the growing prevalence of portfolio trading are creating opportunities for systematic credit, which seeks to harness the explosion of data to create models and strategies, says Paul Benson, head of systematic fixed income at Insight Investment. Benson joins BI credit strategists Noel Hebert and Sam Geier to discuss the history of the systematic approach, model dependency, excess liquidity premiums and identifying relative value. That and more in this latest episod...
Jul 29, 2024•1 hr 6 min
Steven Major, HSBC’s global head of fixed-income research, joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s chief US rates strategist Ira Jersey and BI senior rates strategy associate Will Hoffman to discuss some of the most controversial topics across global bond markets in this Macro Matters edition of the Bloomberg Intelligence FICC Focus podcast. The trio dive into the determinants of longer-run equilibrium interest rates and the relationship between supply and yields. They also touch on regulatory constraint...
Jul 27, 2024•33 min
The economy is firing on all cylinders and continues to show positive momentum, says Lara Rhame, chief US economist at FS Investments. Rhame joins Macro Matters co-host and Bloomberg Intelligence chief US rates strategist Ira Jersey and senior US rates strategy associate Will Hoffman to discuss the major drivers of the US Treasury market. The trio examine how the Federal Reserve may respond to current and future economic conditions, and the impact of various outcomes across asset classes and the...
Jul 25, 2024•24 min
In this edition of the All Options Considered podcast, BI's Chief Global Derivatives Strategist Tanvir Sandhu is joined by Matt King, Founder of Satori Insights. They discuss the impact of central bank reserves on cross-asset markets.
Jul 23, 2024•16 min
Shorecliff Asset Management’s Grant Nachman talks about the intellectually-enriching challenges of launching a new firm in this episode of Bloomberg Intelligence’s Credit Crunch podcast. Grant joins BI’s chief US credit strategist Noel Hebert and his colleague Sam Geier to discuss Shorecliff’s full-cycle credit-investing strategy, the benefits of having a lean team, a bottom-up due-diligence process, the ideal size for the strategy and more.
Jul 19, 2024•1 hr 3 min
Murat Ulgen, Global Head of EM Research at HSBC, and BI’s Chief Emerging Markets Credit Strategist Damian Sassower discuss how US yields and the dollar have driven emerging-market risk premiums and how resilient the asset class has been to rates repricing throughout 1H. They note dispersion within the broader market, the role of carry and the drivers behind the sentiment change in specific geographies - notably a curtailed bullishness for Latin America, and a shift toward Central and Eastern Eur...
Jul 17, 2024•29 min
High yield corporate credit had a strong 1H, despite rates volatility, as spreads rallied and defaults stayed low. In Europe, the index default rate stands at 0.85% and the share of stressed and distressed bonds has come down, while it's higher in the US. Will 3Q sustain those gains, and why? Listen to Mahesh Bhimalingam, Bloomberg Intelligence's Chief European Credit Strategist, discuss the results of the 3Q High Yield Survey, along with market outlook, with Peter Aspbury, Head of European High...
Jul 16, 2024•1 hr 6 min
