FHY News and Press, First Trust Strategic High Income Fund II of Beneficial Interest From 02/13/19

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...

Just like the broader market this week, the rally in high yield credit stalled out a bit. Earlier on Friday, we highlighted the fact that the S&P 500 ran into resistance right at its 200-DMA earlier this week and has been pulling back ever since. In the case of the ETF that tracks the hi...

U.S. high-yield funds pulled in $3.86B for the week ended Friday, the largest amount since July of 2016, according to Lipper data. More news on: iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF, SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF, Credit Suisse High Yield Bond Fund, Financial stocks ...

U.S. junk bonds' 4.52% return in January marks the biggest monthly gain in more than seven years and the best January since 2009. More news on: iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF, SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF, Credit Suisse High Yield Bond Fund, Financial stocks n...

There were no major U.S. Federal Bank speeches this week, so let's dive into the market overall, starting with corporates. CCC yields (in blue) widened sharply between 10/18 and 12/18, rising about 425 basis points (left scale). Spreads have tightened a bit since then, coming down to about 1...

By Kathy A Jones We ended 2018 with a cautious outlook. Our concerns centered on the effect of the Federal Reserve's policy tightening on the economy and the market's appetite for risk, at a time when valuations for bonds were high. We suggested a cautious approach to riskier areas of the ...

"Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength." - Charles Spurgeon British clergyman Watching with interest the historical defeat of Prime Minister Theresa May relating to Brexit, in conjunction with the Chinese central bank injecting a net 560 bil...

After screaming higher towards the end of 2018 right up through the first couple of days of 2019, high yield spreads have come crashing back down to earth in the last two weeks, falling from a high of 544 basis points (bps) on 1/3 to 440 bps through Thursday. At their highs two weeks ago, spre...

By Matthew Sheridan Bond strategies that balance interest-rate and credit risk struggled in 2018. Is this time-tested approach past its prime? Hardly. We think investors will need to blend exposure to both to generate income and limit risk in 2019. Pairing high-yield corporate bonds and ...

"I decided that there was only one place to make money in the mutual fund business, as there is only one place for a temperate man to be in a saloon: behind the bar and not in front of it." - Paul Samuelson Looking with interest at the strong rebound in high beta in credit markets in conju...