DSU News and Press, Blackrock Debt Strategies Fund Inc. From 06/16/21

This morning we learned that US retail spending fell 1.3% in May (more than the -.80 expected). Commodities have been sensing the shift, with the price of many key inputs like lumber (-42%), steel rebar (-18%) and copper (-9%) down sharply from recent peaks. Increases in oil, gas ...

On the surface, conditions in the US look pretty fantastic these days. Prices for lots of goods and services are soaring. Job openings are at record highs. Does the historically low level of real risk-free yields on TIPS suggest that US economic growth will be anemic at best for as fa...

Over the past year, a surge of investors drove high-yield bond prices back to pre-pandemic levels. The potential for a double-dip should increase insurance companies’ appetite for juicier high-yield offerings. While high yield improved its lot through the pandemic, some inv...

Risk-adjusted performance for the Global Market Index (GMI) continued to tick higher in May. GMI’s Sharpe ratio — a measure of risk-adjusted return – rose to 0.82 on a trailing 10-year basis through last month. That’s close to a pandemic high, but still...

The Global Market Index’s (GMI) expected risk premium held steady at 5.9% annualized in May, matching the previous month’s estimate. The framework for estimating equilibrium returns was initially outlined in a 1974 paper by Professor Bill Sharpe. Keep in mind, too, t...

The major asset classes delivered across-the-board gains for a second month in a row in May. Everything apart from cash was up last month, led by a sizzling rally in foreign inflation-linked government bonds. The FTSE Russell World Inflation Index ex-US surged 4.0% last month, the...

Diversification remains key. Flexible strategies can also take advantage of a more uncertain yield and spread environment. We continue to find reasonable opportunity in both public and private credit markets. We find value in non-agency mortgages and prefer cyclicals to growth sto...

Today's post rolls out the inaugural Risk Review column for the major asset classes, a monthly update that's the companion piece to the monthly performance report and risk-premia estimates. Risk analysis is a broad and deep subject and so this monthly update will be no one's idea of a...

There has been much commentary suggesting bonds have gotten overvalued due to historically low rates. At current rates, economic growth will likely very quickly return to sub-2% growth by 2022. Are bonds overvalued? No. But stocks are, and the bond market is ringing alarm bells wa...

The underlying quality mix in the high yield market is at an all-time high. The high yield market has benefited in recent years from reduced levels in two key drivers of ratings downgrades and default triggers. High yield new issuance set a record during 2020. For further de...