Echoes of October 2008 were evident in the capital markets through much of August, as investors reacted harshly to ongoing deficit bickering in Washington and the downgrade of U.S. Government debt by Standard and Poor’s. While volatility was not near the level witnessed in the fall of 2008, the performance of the capital markets certainly […]
The fragile and uneven economic growth witnessed so far this year was put at risk by the childish bickering of our elected officials in July. The posturing and gamesmanship that went into negotiating the debt ceiling was far worse than anyone had expected. To be certain, damage was done to investor and consumer confidence, as […]
Investors grappled with the fear of “what if,” as the European debt crisis continued to drag on through much of June. Commencing with the first trading day of the month, risky assets swooned in favor of the relative safety of U.S. Treasury debt. Driving the fear was a concern that the Greek legislature would fail […]
As 2010 came to a close, consensus opinion was that Gross Domestic Product would expand at a 3% to 4% annualized rate for the first six months of 2011. Now, as we enter the final month of the first half, economic growth is certain to fall short of that goal. With that outcome, we’ve been […]
Fixed Income Market Recap Economic data released during the month of April were solidly representative of a self-sustaining economic expansion. Of the major indicators, retails sales were surprisingly strong, consumer confidence improved smartly, and even the housing market showed some life, with housing starts and building permits both registering better than expected monthly results. However, […]
1st Quarter 2011 Municipal Bond Highlights • Short maturity yields are low • Long end yields have corrected • Yield curve is historically steep • Credit spreads are attractive Municipal bonds suffered a decline in price after an apocalyptic prognostication from layman during the 4th quarter of 2010. Suggestions that the municipal market faced defaults […]
Fixed Income Market Recap Given the ongoing positive fundamentals evident throughout the first quarter, we continue to believe that bond market valuations are out of equilibrium given this stage of the economic cycle, and we continue to position the portfolio accordingly. While we expected that the Federal Reserve would have been more proactive in normalizing […]
Fixed Income Market Recap From a point to point perspective, February appeared to be a rather calm month in the bond market. Yield-to-maturity of the 10-year Treasury Note ended the month 5 basis points higher than where it started and the yield curve was essentially unchanged. However, the intra-month volatility was anything but calm. In […]
Fixed Income Market Recap and Performance Summary Following the sharp selloff in Treasury bond prices witnessed in November and December, price action in January was relatively sanguine. Looking beyond headline performance, the most notable price action for the month was the (3.5%) loss in 30-year Treasury bonds, and the 2.10% gain in the Merrill Lynch […]
Investors continued their exit from municipal bond funds throughout December and the first two weeks of January. Concurrent with heightened credit fears in the Municipal market, higher long term US Treasury rates, and an expected supply shift from long term taxable municipal bond issuance to long term tax exempt issuance led to indiscriminate selling among […]