FICC Focus

“There’s no binary differentiation between capital solutions and restructuring anymore,” says Lazard’s co-head of Europe Restructuring and Liability Management, Sam Whittaker, when discussing the continuum of solutions available to debtors under stress. Whittaker and Lazard’s co-head of European Debt Advisory and Capital Solutions, Tom Howard, joined Bloomberg Intelligence’s Noel Hebert on the latest episode of the Credit Crunch podcast to discuss the current stressed and distressed landscape in Europe, sectors of concern, the evolution of balance-sheet solutions and documentation flexibility. The Credit Crunch podcast is part of BI’s FICC Focus series.

“We’ll risk-manage the portfolios such that, when beta is an uncompelling opportunity set, we have more risk-management overlays in place. And luckily, where we are today with the short rebate that you get paid to borrow and short bonds, it’s not that much of an opportunity cost,” says Beach Point Capital Portfolio Manager and Head of Structured Credit Benjamin Hunsaker, discussing limited excess-return prospects in the context of long-short strategies. Hunsaker joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s Noel Hebert on this episode of the Credit Crunch podcast to explore the climate in consumer and mortgage-backed credit products, the effect of policy headlines, supply-side housing issues and opportunities in commercial real estate.

A currency is like the equity of a country, so the dollar’s recent decline is akin to a drop in the stock of the US, says Morgan Stanley Global Head of Macro Strategy Matt Hornbach. He joins this edition of Macro Matters, part of the FICC Focus podcast series with co-hosts Ira Jersey and Will Hoffman of the Bloomberg Intelligence US Interest Rate Strategy team, to discuss the US and global economic and central-bank outlooks. The trio examine how these may affect currencies, yield curves and risk assets across G3+ markets.

Americans seem to be overreacting to concerns that European investors might divest from US assets, Bloomberg Intelligence chief European interest rate strategist Huw Worthington says. On this edition of the Macro Matters podcast, Worthington joins host Ira Jersey, BI’s chief US rates strategist, to discuss global rates volatility and how European countries might be able to respond financially to recent policy initiatives. They also exchange views on upcoming central bank meetings relative to pricing. 

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

Bloomberg Intelligence’s State of Distressed Debt hosts Noel Hebert, Phil Brendel and Negisa Balluku explore what 2026 may have in store for the leveraged finance markets. Noel and Phil open the podcast by discussing the scarcity of distressed opportunities as high yield spreads test all-time tights, with would-be catalysts for a reversal repeatedly shrugged off by a seemingly invincible credit rally. Negisa then breaks down the latest legal developments in newly bankrupt STG Logistics, First Brands and United Site Services. Phil shares his first-day thoughts on Saks Global Enterprises’ Chapter 11 filing. The podcast concludes with Negisa’s take on the fallout from the Supreme Court’s denial of Hertz’s petition for review and Phil’s thoughts on Ardagh’s Chapter 15 filing.