Download PDF Introduction Catastrophe bonds (CAT bonds), also called “Act-of-God” bonds, or “cat-in-the-box” bonds, have emerged as a compelling investment strategy, particularly highlighted by their performance in 2023, where they generated the best returns (+19.69%) of any alternative investment strategy, according to Preqin. These instruments are key for the insurance Read more…
Download PDF Introduction Convertible bonds are a unique way of raising capital which allows investors to convert the security into a predefined number of shares of common stock given by the conversion ratio. Convertible bonds have a long history, dating back to the 19th century when American railway firms were Read more…
Download PDF Introduction Interest rate derivatives (IRD) represent the largest segment of the OTC derivative market. As of June 2023, the global OTC derivatives notional outstanding amounted to $714.7tn as reported by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The biggest share of this market is represented by IRD and FX Read more…
Download PDF Introduction During the last months, and especially from September, long-duration bonds experienced a dramatic sell-off, which pushed yields to historically elevated levels: U.S. long-term interest rates reached the highest level since 2007, while European bonds have not been so attractive since the Euro sovereign debt crisis in 2012. Read more…
Download PDF Introduction A yield curve depicts the returns of fixed income securities against their term, or time to maturity. In this article, we explain the role that the discount function and forward rates have in the creation of a yield curve and compare different methodologies to fit the yield Read more…
Download PDF Introduction In 2022, rates traders have had to navigate a landscape of deteriorating liquidity in sovereign debt markets. Over the past few years, there have been multiple episodes of severe illiquidity in US Treasuries and related markets. Firstly, US repo rates spiked in September 2019, with intraday secured Read more…
Download PDF Introduction: Fixed Income Markets Performance High inflation and rising interest rates have governed the credit markets in 2022. Year-to-date, high yield bonds are down approximately 16% and investment grade bonds are down approximately 23%. The 2022 macroeconomic environment has wiped away the strong recovery seen by the credit Read more…
Download PDF Abstract While the literature investigating risk premia driving the cross section of stock returns is extensive, fewer studies analyze corporate bond returns. We set out to understand which factors and firm characteristics command a premium in terms of expected returns on corporate bonds, both in the investment grade Read more…
Download PDF This article is part of our series that discusses the impact of low and negative interest rates on several asset classes. Here we will focus on the implications of NIRP on fixed income products. Introduction Today’s low or negative interest rates have already been experienced other times in Read more…
Download PDF Introduction Traditionally, the carry factor has been associated with a trading strategy in the FX markets. For decades, practitioners and academics have thoroughly studied the phenomenon by which currency speculators were regularly profiting from deviations from the uncovered interest parity condition. Borrowing in a low-interest rates currency Read more…
When someone thinks about the mining industry, there is one name that comes to mind: Glencore (GLEN.L). The Anglo-Swiss company was founded in 1974 as Marc Rich + Co AG, before being renamed Glencore International in a management buyout. The company is specialised in producing, refinement and trading of a Read more…
Barclays Plc Market Cap (as of 09/05/14): £41.91bn On May 8th, 2014 the CEO of Barclays Group, Antony Jenkins, presented a new restructuring plan of the London-based bank, stating that Barclays will be shifting its focus to areas where it has the capability, scale and competitive advantage over its competitors. Read more…
The main rationale for the trade is a possible positive surprise of the European economy by the end of the year. The periphery has performed well and the recent resolution of the Berlusconi’s issue has reduced the political risk of the area. Moreover, the economic performances outline the beginning of Read more…
When first appointed in 2006 by President Bush, Ben Bernanke probably didn’t expect his two terms as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve to be the most decisive ones of the past century. First denying an housing bubble, he had to face its real burst and the most threatening crisis Read more…
Last week we suggested shorting three Japanese financials in light of the 10-years JGB price fall, going at the same time long Olympus Corp. and the Nikkei index, in case no more easing was announced on Tuesday night. Kuroda kept monetary policy on hold and so we entered the trade Read more…