FHY News and Press, First Trust Strategic High Income Fund II of Beneficial Interest From 04/30/19

By Gershon Distenfeld and Will Smith The S&P 500 Index hit an all-time high on April 23, thanks to improving investor optimism. But for some equity investors, market highs signal a good time to reduce downside risk. There are additional reasons investors may want to trim their sails....

By Matthew Sheridan, Matthew Minnetian and Gershon Distenfeld The market has grown less anxious about an imminent wave of bond downgrades. That's good, because overestimating the risk can lead to missed opportunities. But the risk hasn't disappeared, making research as important as ever. ...

By Matthew Sheridan As economic cycles enter their later stages, investors sometimes find that they're taking too much risk to generate income. There's a strategy that can help - and we think now is the time to use it. Pairing high-yield corporate bonds and other credit assets with high-...

Posted by Michael Kelley, Head of Global High Yield Research, Samira Sattarzadeh, Senior Analyst on March 14, 2019, in Fixed Income Earlier this year, our investment grade colleagues discussed the potential implications of the growing BBB segment of the US investment grade market...

allen Angel Watch: A Coming Wave of Downgrades? WILLIAM SOKOL: After several years of strong returns in a relatively benign environment, how can high yield investors position their portfolios for a possible turn in the credit cycle? I'm Bill Sokol. I'm here today with Fran Rodilosso t...

By Jeremy Schwartz, CFA On the last "Behind the Markets" podcast, Liqian Ren and I hosted two recurring guests. Bill Stone, CIO of Avalon Advisors, discussed joining Avalon and his global market outlook. Martin Fridson, CIO of Lehmann Livian Fridson Advisors, joined for the second half of ...

The US high-yield bond market has an impressive record when it comes to recovering drawdowns quickly . But how much can an investor who stays put reasonably expect to earn? Today's yield should give them a pretty good idea. History has shown that the yield you start with is a remarkably r...

Praise out of season, or tactlessly bestowed, can freeze the heart as much as blame." - Pearl S. Buck Watching with interest the weakening tone in February in credit markets following the stellar month of January, in conjunction with confirmation of a global slowdown, and with no resolutio...

The US high-yield market has suffered ten peak-to-trough losses greater than 5% in the last 20 years. On average, investors recovered their losses in only four months - and sometimes as few as two. Following the longest and largest drawdown of -35%, which lasted 19 months, investors who stay...

By Collin Martin The investment-grade corporate bond market has gotten riskier. BBB rated corporate bonds now make up more than half of the investment-grade corporate bond market,¹ and the share keeps rising. We suggest investors play defense with their investment-grade corporate bo...