FICC Focus

“We want to encourage risk-taking, but we want to encourage the right type of risk-taking, which is informed risk-taking,” says Colin Purdie, global CIO of public markets for Manulife Investment Management. In this episode of Credit Crunch, Purdie joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s Noel Hebert to discuss portfolio construction and decentralized decision-making within a global platform. The two explore the material growth in equity and credit issuance to fund data centers, where the benefits of AI may accrue, why physical climate risk could be mispriced and where to find relative value. Purdie also explains why the 2022 gilt crisis was an important lesson, offers thoughts on whether de-dollarization is done or delayed, and speaks to the source of demand for corporate new issuance and the potential effect of a less-transparent Federal Reserve.

The Credit Crunch podcast is part of BI’s FICC Focus series. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

In this episode of the FX Moment podcast, Bloomberg Intelligence Chief FX Strategist Audrey Childe-Freeman talks to BI’s Chief Interest Rate Strategist Ira Jersey for a flavor on what to expect from the Fed at the Sept. 16 FOMC Meeting. The hotter-than-expected August CPI data is boosting the case for September policy action, though that isn’t a done deal and there’s still uncertainty as to what to expect on policy messaging and on whether any September action would mark the beginning of a tightening cycle or whether it’s more about removing some of 2025’s policy easing. The implications for the bond market and the dollar are different depending on the scenario that unfolds. Ira and Audrey also discuss the implications that a no-change policy outcome would have on the bond market and the dollar, via the cyclical and structural channels.

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The angst, consternation and hand-wringing over debt levels may be a contrarian indicator that rate markets are oversold, says Brendan Murphy, North American head of fixed income at Insight Investment Management. Murphy joins Bloomberg Intelligence chief US interest rate strategist Ira Jersey on this Macro Matters edition of the FICC Focus podcast to discuss the outlook for fixed income. Murphy attributes elevated yields to a stronger macro backdrop, persistent inflation uncertainty, the Fed leadership shift to Chair Kevin Warsh and fiscal concerns amplified by heavy AI-driven corporate issuance. He outlines Insight Investment’s base case that the Fed holds at its upcoming meeting, favors the five-year part of the curve and prefers non-agency securitized credit and agency mortgages over investment grade on valuation grounds. The episode closes with Murphy’s contrarian view that widespread market pessimism may signal a fixed-income buying opportunity, with high-quality portfolios now yielding around 6%, competitive with long-run equity return expectations.

The Macro Matters podcast is part of BI’s FICC Focus series.

Cross-asset volatility has declined over summer even though the path of resistance for yields has been higher. In this edition of the All Options Considered podcast, BI’s Chief Global Derivatives Strategist Tanvir Sandhu gives an update on macro dynamics, bond market volatility, yen, S&P 500 dispersion strategies and the fat tails on gas prices.

Emerging market equities have outperformed the S&P 500 by over 14% over the past year, as investors take advantage of attractive valuations, falling currency volatility and a more resilient macroeconomic backdrop. Malcolm Dorson, Senior EM Portfolio Manager and Head of the Active Investment Team at Global X, joins Damian Sassower, Bloomberg Intelligence’s chief EM fixed income strategist, to assess the durability of thematic and idiosyncratic investment opportunities across the EM equity universe. Dorson and Sassower assess relative performance, foreign positioning and fund flows as institutional investors exhibit greater interest in moving down the EM capital structure.