FICC Focus

Dan Zwirn, CEO of Arena Investors, discusses the benefits of special situations strategy, concern about asset bubbles, and the advantages of partnering in investments. He delves into global investment strategies, diverse sourcing methods, navigating financial market complexities, creating efficient transaction systems, and the impact of company culture on business success.

Bloomberg Intelligence US Rates Strategy Associate Will Hoffman joins BI's Chief Interest Rate Strategist Ira Jersey on this episode to discuss the recent turbulence in the Treasury market. Topics include the implications of the recent CPI surprise, details of the upcoming Treasury buyback operations, and insights from the Federal Reserve's March meeting minutes regarding their balance-sheet policy evolution.

In our latest FX Moment podcast, Audrey Childe-Freeman, Bloomberg Intelligence chief G-10 FX strategist, and Stephen Chiu, chief Asia FX and rates strategist, reflect on navigating the G-10 and Asia foreign exchange markets in 2Q, while awaiting a shift in US economic data, Fed easing expectations and the dollar's fortunes.Audrey acknowledges recent chatter about euro-dollar parity, but doesn't embrace the view for now as much bearish news is priced in already. Stephen confirms that dollar-yuan bulls remain at the mercy of a dollar move lower and PBOC support for now, while there are also relevant intra-Asia FX views to consider into 2Q.

This edition of All Options Considered is part II of the recording of the Bloomberg Volatility Forum 2024 held in London on March 19th. This is the discussion from the second panel on zero-days-to-expiry options (0DTEs) by David Cross, Co-Head of US options at DASH Financial Technologies, Henry Schwartz VP and Global Head of Client Engagement at Cboe Global Markets, JB Mackenzie, Vice President & General Manager at Robinhood and Zubin Ramdarshan, Head of Equity and Index Product Design at Eurex. The panel is hosted by Bloomberg Anchor Kriti Gupta.

Deadlines and ensuring the right parties are at the table are two crucial ingredients for successful mediations, according to Ken Feinberg, who was the Special Master of the Federal September 11 Victim Compensation Fund and has helped administer some of the most complex public crises in American history. He discussed mass tort’s intersection with Chapter 11 with Bloomberg Intelligence Bankruptcy Litigation Analyst Negisa Balluku (6:00). Prior to that, BI’s Noel Hebert and Phil Brendel discuss the risk-on euphoria in the credit markets, exemplified by half the US high yield universe now sporting spreads below 200 bps. The podcast concludes with Noel, Negisa and Phil reviewing ongoing bankruptcy and distressed situations, including Yellow, Genesis, Rackspace, Gol, WeWork, and Rite Aid (36:25).

New York City hasn’t fully recovered from the pandemic, and that leaves both the city and state concerned about future revenue to face any new economic contractions and market volatility. Thomas DiNapoli, State of New York comptroller, joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s Eric Kazatsky and co-host Karen Altamirano in this month’s bonus episode of the Masters of the Muniverse podcast to discuss aligning spending and revenue. This edition marks a slight departure from the previous slate of guests who have brought us perspectives on the market from the sell and buy sides and from data providers. As the economy potentially heads toward a more-volatile period, and with inflation proving to be anything but transitory, one of the largest issuers in the US muni market talks about risks and resiliency.

This edition of All Options Considered is the recording of part of the Bloomberg Volatility Forum 2024 held in London on March 19th. The first part is the opening speech by BI's Chief Global Derivatives Strategist Tanvir Sandhu on macro and volatility across markets. This is followed by the recording of the discussion from the first panel on VIX and option strategies by Pierre De Saab, Partner at Dominice, Tom Leake, Head of Solutions at Capstone Investment Advisors and Valeriu Trufas, Fund Manager at Atlantic House. The panel is hosted by Bloomberg Anchor and Acting London Bureau Chief, Anna Edwards.

Event risk will garner greater attention as the emerging-market election calendar heats up in May. In this month’s EM Lens & Look-Through podcast, Wells Fargo Global Macro Strategist, FX & Emerging Markets Aroop Chatterjee joins Damian Sassower, Bloomberg Intelligence chief EM credit strategist, to share his views on funding currency diversification as the EM carry trade remains alive and well. Chatterjee and Sassower discuss the propensity for currency volatility to mean-revert, debate the impact of China’s economy on the broader commodity complex, and assess the impact of a shallower US Federal Reserve easing cycle on EM interest rate expectations.

Jim Fellows, Co-president and CIO of First Eagle Alternative Credit, discusses the value of culture, mid-market lending, and the right risk premium between direct lending and syndicated markets. They also talk about leveraging technology in the investment process and the evolution of markets like CLOs and leveraged loans.

I think the Fed is extremely data dependent, if anything, too data dependent, says Anna Wong, chief US economist for Bloomberg Economics. In this Macro Matters edition of the FICC focus podcast, Wong joins host Ira Jersey, chief US interest rate strategist for Bloomberg Intelligence, to unpack the March FOMC meeting. The pair discuss the surprises and developments from the meeting, including revisions to the Statement of Economic Projections and their implications for the path of Fed policy. Revisions to longer-run rate expectations, intermeeting black swan events, thresholds for interest rate cuts, and risk cases to economic forecasts are also discussed.