UK

With UK banks pulling mortgages from the market, Douglas Charleston explains why this doesn’t reflect any fundamental weakness in the UK banking sector, but rather the uncertainty created by the sharp moves in UK rates.

With reaction to the UK’s mini-budget roiling markets for a second day, Felipe Villarroel looks at what higher rates and a weaker currency mean for the UK economy.

With the UK’s mini-Budget sending its currency and bonds into freefall, Gordon Shannon says both the government and the Bank of England need to learn the importance of communication with the markets.

European governments are unveiling hefty support packages to ease the pain of Russia’s gas shutdown, with implications for inflation and the chance of recession, says Dillon Lancaster.

With Europe facing an energy crisis and the UK bracing for a five-quarter recession, a strong allocation bias to the US seems a no-brainer. However, George Curtis says that when looking at relative value in fixed income, the decision is never that simple.

Fixed rate bond yields may have climbed as markets priced in higher interest rates, but both existing and new investors in floating rate bonds have more to gain as central banks keep hiking, says Pauline Quirin

With bank Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds broadly trading at a 10% discount to par and many being priced to perpetuity, Dillon Lancaster suggests investors are either missing or ignoring the solid fundamentals on show in Q2 earnings.

With corporate bond spreads having risen to not far short of crisis levels, Johnathan Owen argues the 4%-plus yields on offer in short dated investment grade are an attractive entry point for investors that might not be around for long.

Political chaos is once again taking the headlines in the UK, but bond investors should be cheering the UK regulator’s decision to raise banks’ capital buffers in preparation for an anticipated economic downturn, says Gary Kirk.

At this stage in the economic cycle investors may need to think about ways to protect their portfolios while providing strong relative value. Johnathan Owen explains why short dated investment grade can offer exactly that in his latest blog.

Consumers are being hit from seemingly all angles at the moment. Higher interest rates are coming, higher inflation is already hitting their pockets hard and economic growth is expected to slow.

CRE ABS offers conservatively structured debt features, with generally short duration exposure and a spread premium rewarding the more intensive underwriting and due diligence required.