IGI News and Press, Western Asset Investment Grade Defined Opportunity Trust Inc. From 07/06/21

Risk-adjusted performance for the Global Market Index (GMI) continued to push higher in June, based on the annualized Sharpe ratio for a rolling ten-year window via monthly data. GMI’s 10-year SR increased to 0.84, the highest in 18 months. GMI is an unmanaged, market-value...

The expected risk premium for the Global Market Index (GMI) resumed an upward drift in June, rising to an annualized 6.0%. The current risk premium forecast for GMI - 6.0% - suggests that multi-asset-class strategies will generate lower returns relative to results posted in recent yea...

We review CEF market valuation and performance over the past week and highlight recent events. We highlight news and market action across a number of CEFs such as HFRO, FSLF, IGI, and a pair of Invesco loan funds. Valuation and distribution challenges remain two key risks for CEF ...

The primary market has not been the avenue for quick spread-tightening that it was in the spring of last year, when the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Investment Grade Credit Index was at 200 basis points. This year has been different. With most countries coming out of lockdowns and rolling ...

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...

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...

1Q21 earnings season for investment grade issuers was strong and better than expected. Key themes from earnings calls included optimism around the post-pandemic recovery in the U.S., but also more mixed global trends. Going forward, potential headwinds will need to be monitored as...

Legg Mason Partners Fund Advisor, LLC announced today that certain closed end funds have declared their distributions for the months of June, July, and August 2021. The following dates apply to the distribution schedule below: This press release is not for tax reporting purposes...

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...