Active Fixed Income

While the immediate path for tariffs may drift lower, the U.S. legislative branch is hammering out a tax and spending bill that seems to favor tax cuts over lower spending, reviving worries over the U.S. budget deficit and a growing debt burden that cannot be ignored.

The global economy is continually evolving due to inflation, interest rates, and geopolitics. How could these and other factors influence the major asset classes over the coming decade?

If we lived in a world where mobile signals were visible, the sky would shimmer like a storm—layers of frequencies rolling over rooftops, crossing oceans and saturating valleys.

The US housing market remains in a state of inertia. Despite the arrival of the spring selling season, both new and existing home sales continue to underwhelm.

In this video, Chuck Carnevale, Co-Founder of FAST Graphs, aka Mr. Valuation will do a comprehensive analysis of Autoliv Inc (ALV), the world’s largest automotive safety supplier.

Small-cap stocks tend to offer greater growth potential than their large-cap peers, but those returns have yet to materialize consistently. What will it take to turn the tide?

Investors may revisit international exposure in their portfolios amidst reduced market reactions to tariff announcements, uncertain U.S. policy and lagging U.S. stock performance.

Back during the Financial Panic of 2008, clickbait media kept screaming “Hyperinflation.” We consistently pushed back against this theme, and argued inflation would not accelerate.

Increasing investor preference for actively managed strategies continues in this year’s tumultuous environment. With active ETFs taking increasing market share, advisors and investors have ever-expanding choices when looking to augment existing passive exposures.

Systematic fixed-income investing is attracting increased attention but needs specialist skills and resources. Would your manager have what it takes?

Research trips are an integral component of our active, fundamental investment process. Our investment teams meet with different companies, attend conferences, and travel to new markets around the world, gaining insights for our clients and a deeper understanding of potential investments.

The ETF market saw a noticeable slowdown of new products launched in May; however, innovation continued to be a driving force.

Bouts of volatility may continue in the second half of 2025 as bond market investors navigate evolving tariff policy, U.S. government debt, and economic uncertainty.

Kristofer Kraus, portfolio manager and co-lead of PIMCO’s asset-based finance business, charts the nuances behind the overall resilience of U.S. consumers – and explains how these insights shape lending and investment strategies.

We remain underweight most developed market stocks as US tariff policy is still unclear but are more enthusiastic about emerging market assets.

Given the large pool of options available to fixed income investors in the bond market, the ideal option given the current economic uncertainty is still Treasuries. With that, Vanguard has three options worthy of consideration for any portfolio.

Early signs of diminishing economic activity and inflation could be a harbinger for bond prices to rise. If so, consider taking advantage of a potential bond rally with a pair of ETFs from Vanguard.

Stocks rallied in May 2025 as trade tensions eased, but investor confidence remains fragile.

Investors may revisit international exposure in their portfolios amidst reduced market reactions to tariff announcements, uncertain U.S. policy and lagging U.S. stock performance.

Passive capitalization-weighted index funds now surpass active management in aggregate investor allocations.

Closed-end funds can offer stable income streams, but also have some benefits over ETFs when it comes to fund structure.

Duration is an often confused term when it comes to financial fixed income investing. After all, in your everyday life, the definition of duration is the length of time it takes for something to occur.

Market leadership is shifting and the once-dominant Magnificent 7 may no longer be so magnificent. Our latest report reveals why broader opportunities are emerging across sectors and regions, with quality, value, and growth converging in unexpected places.

The muted IPO market which has become commonplace in the last few years continued in that fashion through the first five months of 2025. However, the last few weeks has brought a renewed focus to dealmaking after a couple of highly anticipated IPOs began trading, and a cryptocurrency unicorn filed to IPO.

Mortgage rates last week climbed to their highest levels since the beginning of the year on elevated economic risks. With markets still hopeful of at least one interest rate cut in the second half, the real estate sector stands poised to bounce back in a lower rate environment.

This past week, news flow around policy came in hot and heavy, with President Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful’ tax cut bill passing the House of Representatives, and Trump threatening 50% tariffs on the European Union (EU).

Amid a fair amount of market tumult, we wrote two months ago that the best course of action was to stay invested in roughly the same portfolios that we’ve had throughout, and let the market stabilize.

Similar to the equity market’s response to the recently announced tariffs, the bond market responded with a widening of credit spreads. These spreads represent the difference in yield between a U.S. Treasury bond and other bonds of the same maturity but different credit quality.

It doesn’t take much to understand that Ray Dalio, a hedge fund titan, is like every other human being and is prone to error. I will not dismiss Dalio entirely, as his track record of managing money at Bridgewater is nothing to be scoffed at.

Assessment and selection of covered call funds is based on criteria like total return, distribution rate (sometimes referred to as yield), and fees.

Corporate credit spreads, whether investment grade or high yield, can often hint at hiccups in the stock market and the economy. But they tend to keep a low profile.

Many investors have underweighted high yield bond ETF strategies in recent years, satisfied with the opportunities found in other segments of the fixed income market.

Index ETFs have evolved beyond merely providing passive exposure to the market, with a new generation of factor ETFs utilizing complex rules-based methodologies to beat benchmarks.

Residential mortgage-backed securities, or MBS, are a big part of the securitized investment market. Here's what to know about MBS investing.

Mounting concerns regarding growing U.S. government deficits and a volatile tariff policy create a challenging backdrop for U.S. bonds.

Actively managed ETFs pulled in approximately 40% of the industry flows through the first four months of 2025. These ETFs tap into professional expertise, which has been helpful in the volatile market environment. The latest model allocation changes made by BlackRock’s team will help more ETF-minded advisors have greater access to active strategies.

My next few letters will share some initial thoughts from SIC organized around the major topics. Today we’ll start with inflation, and specifically the sharply different views of David Rosenberg and Jim Bianco, then balance them with some thoughts from other speakers.

Looking to reduce volatility without sacrificing income potential? Consider short-maturity high yield.

Markets rallied after a surprise tariff rollback, but with valuations stretched and policy signals still mixed, investors appear to be leaning toward flexibility, fundamentals, and selective exposure.

For many of us, ETFs have been synonymous with passive management.

Investors have breathed multiple sighs of relief in recent weeks as the Trump administration has dialed back its extreme tariff rates on China and other countries. In addition, first-quarter earnings were better, overall, than many expected given the quarter’s uncertainty.

Direct indexing has been in the news a lot more in recent years. Larger industry players have strategically acquired a number of providers—including Parametric. And many new entrants have entered the space, looking to build on its success.

Shopping for bonds? The bonds you choose should align with your risk tolerance and goals. Discover what to consider before buying any bond.

The market narrative appears to change on a dime these days. Stocks may have staged a comeback to recoup almost all their post-“Liberation Day” losses. But the bottom line on the fixed income market hasn’t changed all that much.

The April Consumer Price Index (‘CPI’) report was released last Wednesday and gave the Federal Reserve another positive data point in its inflation fight, as did Thursday’s negative Producer Price Index (‘PPI’).

This year’s turbulent market environment underscores the value proposition of actively managed strategies. Active ETFs may offer diversification benefits, a responsiveness to changing market environments, and a depth of fundamental research above and beyond that of their passive peers.

During last month's tariff war, a big driver of stock-market declines was foreigners selling.

Innovative ETFs are making waves as investors look for fresh ways to navigate a market marked by rapid growth and ongoing volatility.

Head of U.S. Fixed Income Greg Wilensky and John Lloyd, Lead, Multi-Sector Credit Strategies, discuss Moody’s rating downgrade of the U.S. and what the implications may be for the Treasury market, the Federal Reserve (Fed), and fixed income investors.

Recent revisions to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook reflect a sobering message: the world economy is entering a more volatile and fragmented era.

After Friday’s close, Moody’s downgraded U.S. treasuries, as S&P had 14 years ago, in 2011. I criticized the downgrade then…and I do now. The government cannot technically default, as the Fed can always buy the bonds for any auction.

Major gauges of investment-grade corporate bonds were stung by the April bout of volatility that permeated the bond market.