VTC News and Press, Vanguard Total Corporate Bond ETF From 09/22/21

Market participants have turned to exchange-traded funds to access an ostensibly alternative source of liquidity, creating a new and important buy-side investor as a result. Active funds directed more of their risk budgets to generating alpha than their passive counterparts. Quant...

Global asset markets have never been more overvalued, leveraged and interconnected in our lifetimes. This presents a massive instability risk for all of us, whether we appreciate it or not. The corporate sector has never been more indebted (less resilient to negative shocks) as a perc...

After record bond issuance in 2020 and profits hitting new highs, many companies are debating “What should we do with all this money?”. Given the limited impact to interest costs, I would expect high-quality companies to exhibit fewer bondholder-friendly spending habits....

How to achieve a respectable income without taking on too much risk. What's the right risk/yield trade-off for reasonable income? Will '80s-style inflation return? For further details see: The Great Fixed Income Challenge: Balancing Yield And Risk In A Low-Rate World

Bond investors have eagerly awaited news on the proposed timing of the Fed’s plans to begin tapering and have been looking for hints of when rates may start to rise. The combination of low interest rates and signs of rising inflation have investors concerned. The prospects ...

Income investing has never been harder. Interest rates and income yields are at historic lows even as inflation is hitting multi-decade highs. There is one income investment remaining that offers historically high yields, is inflation resistant, and boasts historically strong fund...

Risk-adjusted performance continued to rise in August for the Global Market Index. Sharpe ratios in global markets generally are elevated. GMI represents a theoretical benchmark for the “optimal” portfolio. For further details see: Major Asset Classes | Aug...

When making historical comparisons, it’s important to consider how things have evolved compared to past periods. With respect to investment grade, the story isn’t a good one. Today, despite a favorable growth backdrop and expectations for low defaults, we believe the ris...

Given the sizeable skew in the distribution of outcomes toward negative real returns, it's extremely important to be selective in high-quality fixed income, and to be truly vested in one’s investments so that portfolios are not permanently impaired. In the short term, the commo...

The expected risk premium for the Global Market (GMI) ticked up in August, reaching an annualized 6.1%, slightly above the previous month’s estimate. Despite the comparatively high GMI forecast, the current estimate remains well below the index’s realized risk premium fo...