DSU News and Press, Blackrock Debt Strategies Fund Inc. From 03/05/21

The loan space continues to see inflows which should be supportive of NAVs. As NAVs increase, they can increase leverage supporting distributions. Loan funds remain one of the cheapest asset classes in the CEF spectrum with five-year z-scores that are barely positive. We like KIO ...

I analyzed 80 bond funds two weeks ago and identified the best funds and blended bond fund portfolio. Two new outstanding bond funds - Metropolitan West Flexible Income and Metropolitan West Strategic Income - were identified after the previous analysis was completed. Analysis sho...

Why the run-up in rates has troubled equity markets more than credit, and why we think that is poised to continue. Since the start of the fourth quarter of 2020, the U.S. 10-year yield has risen by more than 80 basis points while the spread of the ICE Bank of America U.S. Corporate BB...

The recent rise in Treasury yields has spooked the equity markets. This is obvious from the recent performance of the bond markets as compared to the stock markets. Inflation is not the cause of this rise, but rather a combination of the stimulus measures, a rebounding economy, our CO...

Global recovery optimism, especially in the US, is leading to speculation over when the Fed might take its foot off the accelerator and buy fewer Treasuries and Agencies. Increasingly, parallels are being drawn to similar events in 2013. In this Q&A, we look at when such a sha...

Economic growth is returning to almost every country in the world, and almost all commodity prices are rising. The thing to worry about is the direction of fiscal policy, which will almost certainly bring us higher taxes, increased regulatory burdens, and more expensive energy. Fo...

Volatility is the most important consideration in selecting a bond fund. We can gain insight into a bond fund’s return/risk potential by comparing yield to historic volatility. The impact of rising interest rates must be examined before investing in any bond fund. Funds...

It is my opinion, when considering both the inflation component and the credit risk component, that most bonds are not providing any real value currently. One strategy that should be considered is not buying any more bonds at present. The second is to take a careful look at your portf...

Risk assets have compressed in yield against Treasuries, so that any meaningful yield of anything has gotten wrung out of the markets. For the first time ever, yields in the High Yield markets are now less than 4.00%. In other words, you are getting paid about nothing for credit risk....

Returns in the US treasury market have gotten off to a bad start. Long-term US treasuries are already down over 5% YTD, which would be only the second time in the last ten years that the asset class started off the year so poorly. While treasuries have been weak, not all areas of ...