FHY News and Press, First Trust Strategic High Income Fund II of Beneficial Interest From 06/11/19

The two US dollar proxies followed regularly are the Invesco DB USD Bullish ETF (UUP) and the DXY. The UUP is a tradeable ETF, but it generates a K-1, therefore I stopped buying it for clients. Both the DXY and the UUP have identical currency weightings: Euro: 58% Yen: 14% ...

We were waiting for new tariffs on China and instead got new tariffs on Mexico, a country that has agreed to a new trade deal to replace the old NAFTA. Clearly, using tariffs to resolve immigration issues is an innovative tool, but does it really solve anything? Many of the immigrants Presid...

One of the lessons of the past few decades' boom/bust cycles is that each financial bubble emerges in a different asset class. In the 1970s it was precious metals, in the 1980s junk bonds, in the 1990s tech stocks and in the 2000s mortgage-backed bonds. Today, the only one of these with a re...

I recently discussed one of the biggest potential "flash points" for the financial markets today - corporate debt. What I find most fascinating is how quickly many dismiss the issue of corporate debt with the simple assumption of "it's not the subprime mortgage market." Correct, it's...

By Seth Meyer, CFA Portfolio Manager Seth Meyer discusses the current state of the high-yield market, which he views as fairly priced, given a strong technical tailwind and constructive fundamentals. We believe investors can find attractive opportunities in B-rated bonds issued by companie...

Global high yield bonds sold off amid the latest spike in market volatility, along with other risk assets. Yet this does not change our view that exposure to the asset class is important for fixed income investors in an environment where carry, or coupon income, is becoming the main driver of ...

By Vladimir Nikulin, CFA During the last week, the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF ( HYG ) declined by 0.46% primarily due to monthly dividend payments last week. HYG's underlying portfolio demonstrated neutral performance (0.0%) due to lack of positive news during the last w...

By now just about everyone understands what junk bonds are and why they matter. But there's a non-publicly traded version of this kind of debt that's also soaring and has recently caught the Fed's eye. Called leveraged loans, these are loans made by banks to companies with weak balance sheets ...

Before the last January '18, February '18 plunge in the equity markets, the S&P 500 peaked on January 26, 2018, at 2,872 - 2,873. With Friday night's close at 2,945, the total gain for the S&P 500 (excluding dividends) is 2.5% from that January '18 peak. That is a paltry return for t...

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....