SUSC News and Press, iShares ESG USD Corporate Bond ETF From 10/04/22

Summary Geopolitical tensions, elevated market volatility, and the fastest pace of central bank tightening in decades are contributing to an unusually uncertain economic environment. In addition to higher income potential, yields are high enough to provide the potential for capita...

Summary Rising prices continue to confound expectations that slowing global growth will ease inflation pressures. Financial market turbulence may be here to stay for some time. The ability to rebalance negatively correlated assets helps generate income and potential return whi...

Summary The new regime poses an unavoidable trade-off for central banks: tame inflation by hiking or preserve growth. We see them overtightening rates, so keep risk low. UK gilt yields reached 14-year highs before the Bank of England intervened to halt the selloff. Yields on 10-ye...

Summary When perceived or actual risks around corporate solvency and liquidity emerge, segments of the corporate bond market reprice lower, at times dramatically so. Spreads and volatility are related and tend to broadly move together. The year-to-date change in corporate bond...

Summary We believe it is unlikely that Fed Chair Jerome Powell will navigate a pivot to a less-hawkish stance before early in 2023. We expect China to grow at a meager 2%-3% pace in 2022, with the potential for these risks to bleed into 2023, as a slowing developed-market consumer...

Summary Income investors seeking to boost yields often find themselves depending on higher-yielding investments such as bank loans, high-yield bonds and dividend-paying equities. The key to an efficient income portfolio is selecting the most impactful building blocks and assemblin...

Summary Stocks are now back down to the lows set in June and sentiment is as negative now as it was then. There is a long list of technical items that have hit levels or rates of change we associate with bottoms, short- or long-term. The economic data last week was mostly abou...

Summary Last week brought the third consecutive 75-basis point rate hike from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The week also brought more signs of this rapid hiking cycle reverberating worldwide. We think credit spreads can offer a remunerative and relatively calm haven amid the vola...

Summary Although consumers are benefiting from robust labor markets and strong balance sheets, they appear reluctant to buy high-cost durable goods. A key to navigating inflation risk is understanding its relationship with asset class returns. Historically, high-inflation episodes...

Summary The new regime of macro volatility is playing out with weaker growth, persistent inflation and volatile markets. We stick with our dialed-down risk stance. U.S. stocks slumped and yields surged on a renewed rise in core inflation. We’ve argued inflation will be pers...