Sourcing Bloomberg/Barclays data; here are the YTD returns for the bond market asset classes as of Friday, April 12th, 2019:
- US Corp High Grade: +5.13%
- US Corp High Yield: +8.14%
- Mortgages ((MBS)): +1.89%
- Municipals: +2,67%
- US Treasuries: +1.32%
- US TIPS: +2.85%
- Global Sovereign: +1.03%
- Emerging Markets: +5.41%
Charlie Bilello of Pension Partners mentioned several times last year that the 2017 and 2018 were the worst two years for the US bond market since the early 1980s, 1980 and 1981 I thought he referenced.
We've seen a nice bounce back in credit markets already in 2019,