Investors were clearly pleased with the end of the government shutdown, as the various “risk on” trades performed well in October. Fixed income returns were driven entirely by a demand for credit, as the Treasury market was mostly unchanged for the period. As the government returned to work late last month, investors debated what impact […]
“When I consider buying a bond, it is important to have some degree of comfort the issuing entity will pay some of my money back even if it goes into default,” said Michael Kastner, a principal at Halyard Asset Management. “The coco structure defeats that purpose.” Such criticism has not deterred banks as demand has […]
While the news media has been commemorating the 5 year anniversary of the financial crisis, investors continue to vacillate between risk-on/risk-off strategies on a daily basis. September was especially so, driven by a barrage of “you gotta be kidding me” news headlines. To recap, Verizon announced and within 48 hours completed the largest corporate […]
“This is a critical period of the year for the economy and the last thing you want to see is business and consumers retrenching spending,” said Michael Kastner, principal at Halyard Asset Management. “As we have seen in the past, equities can take quite a hit when Washington’s battles turn ugly.” US moves closer to […]
The fixed income market saw massive redemptions suffered by the largest fixed income mutual funds over the last several months. The highly visible spokesmen for those funds have appeared in the media with increasing frequency stating and restating their bullish stance, while simultaneously selling bonds to meet rising redemptions. That hefty selling need, approximately $41 […]
“Given the size of this deal and in order to attract a large pool of investors, concession may have to be such so that these bonds have to become profitable pretty soon,” said Michael Kastner, principal at Halyard Asset Management. Verizon set for blockbuster bond sale
“Verizon will be an enormous deal and has the potential to destabilise the market or be the catalyst for a rebound in corporate bond sentiment,” says Michael Kastner, principal at Halyard Asset Management. Blockbuster Verizon bond sale to test debt appetite
Longer term interest rates rose in July as the yield curve continued to steepen, albeit at a slower pace than witnessed in May and June. For the period, the yield-to-maturity of the 10-year note rose 10 basis points to finish the month at 2.58%. The ETF related spread widening that occurred in June and was […]
Michael Kastner, principal at Halyard Asset Management says there is a risk that bond yields rise further as economic growth for the second quarter and the July jobs number is revised upwards. “It looks like the economy has underlying strength and as an investor you have to respect the bond selling we saw in May […]
Michael Kastner, managing principal at Halyard Asset Management, says he is hedging the duration risk in his portfolios from owning longer-dated corporate bonds with interest rate futures. “We are adding exposure across all sectors and see investment grade clawing back some ground on junk,” he says. Investors bet on junk bonds to outperform