

FICC Focus
Bloomberg Intelligence
FICC Focus offers the latest market views on interest rates, corporate bonds, emerging market debt, commodities, and currencies by Bloomberg Intelligence analysts.
Episodes
Mentioned books

18 snips
Sep 19, 2023 • 1h 54min
Paul Hastings' Hansen on Crypto, Mass Tort, & 'Creditor-on-Creditor Violence'; Latest on Yellow, 3M, and Diamond Sports: State of Distressed
Kris Hansen, co-chair of the financial restructuring group at Paul Hastings, discusses the intersection of crypto and bankruptcy, Chapter 11 as a forum for resolving mass tort, and the misconception of 'creditor-on-creditor violence'. The podcast also covers the impact of retail-driven supplier bankruptcies, challenges and benefits of tort cases in bankruptcy, dismissal of 3M's bankruptcy case, and the status of AMC and Cinemark appeal.

Sep 17, 2023 • 21min
Questions From West Coast Investor Trip: Macro Matters
Should the US economy avoid a recession over the coming months as anticipated by the Bloomberg Economics team, the Federal Reserve may remain on hold for all of 2024, Bloomberg Intelligence Chief US Interest Rate Strategist Ira Jersey says on the latest episode of the Macro Matters podcast. The Fed may be forced to end asset runoff in 1H24, he says, as reserves become scarce. In addition, Jersey answers other common questions from buy-side investors during his recent California roadshow, including about the potential near-term impact of federal deficits on domestic rate markets. US Interest Rate Strategy Associate Will Hoffman views nuances to August’s monthly Treasury statement and the implications for issuance.

Sep 15, 2023 • 24min
Isolating Idiosyncratic Risk Factors in EM Dollar-Pay Debt: EM Lens
Emerging market currency volatility is on the rise, as the dovish tilt in monetary policy causes real yield differentials to converge with the US and Europe. In this month’s EM Lens & Look-Through episode, Shamaila Khan, Head of Emerging Markets & Asia-Pacific at UBS Asset Management Americas, joins Chief EM Fixed Income Strategist Damian Sassower to deliver her outlook on emerging market debt. From idiosyncratic risk in EM distressed debt to China’s struggling property sector, we discuss the opportunities and risks facing EM creditors.

Sep 12, 2023 • 52min
Sustainability and ESG In Credit: Why Bother?: Credit Crunch
Credit markets saw stupendous growth in socially responsible and green bonds from a variety of credits and many sustainability and ESG specialized funds and investment vehicles have taken off in the past four years.In this episode of our Credit Crunch podcast, host Mahesh Bhimalingam, Chief European Credit Strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, and Mitch Reznick, Head of Sustainable Fixed Income at Federated Hermes Limited, discuss the shades of sustainable bond and fund types: Sustainability, ESG, SRI, Green, GSS among others and differentiate them and address their performance and alpha vs. mainstream credit. They also discuss flows into such funds and supply of these securities in comparison to mainstream. Lastly, they discuss the various relevant global regulations, including stewardship.

Sep 6, 2023 • 18min
Bigger BRICS Renews Dollar Demise Talk, But In Vain: FX Moment
In this podcast, the hosts discuss the recently announced plan for a larger BRICS group and its potential impact on de-dollarization. They explore the economic and political aspects behind the BRICS extension and its limited impact on the dollar dominance. The podcast also discusses the challenges of creating a single currency or monetary union within the BRICS countries and the current dominance of the dollar in the international monetary system.

Aug 30, 2023 • 51min
Active Management, Fixed Income Chaos: Masters of the Muniverse
Money has been leaking out of municipal mutual funds this year, but the same can’t be said for alternative products, such as exchange traded funds, though there’s been some recent cooling, especially in separately managed account platforms, an area we’ve spent much time exploring this year on Masters of the Muniverse. In this episode of the podcast, Andrew Clinton, CEO and founder of Clinton Investment Management, sits down with Bloomberg Intelligence’s Eric Kazatsky and Karen Altamirano for an in-depth discussion about the muni market, recession expectations, his feelings post-Jackson Hole and the outlook for 4Q.

Aug 25, 2023 • 59min
Hildene's Jefferson, Mehra on Structured Strength: Credit Crunch
The keys to evaluating structured credit are “the value of the assets, the value of the structure and the value of the option,” according to Brett Jefferson, founder, president and co-CIO of Hildene Capital, with $14 billion in assets under management. Jefferson and co-CIO Dushyant Mehra join Noel Hebert, Bloomberg Intelligence’s director of FICC research, and Sam Geier, senior credit strategy associate, on this Credit Crunch episode, part of the FICC Focus podcast series for an in-depth discussion on the value in TruPs, identifying the fulcrum in CLOs, mortgage-backed products and the benefits of diversification.

Aug 24, 2023 • 20min
US Rate-Market Review With TD’s Gennadiy Goldberg: Macro Matters
The Treasury market selloff throughout August was in part due to increased issuance, but largely driven by the market repricing the future path of monetary policy, TD Securities USA’s Chief US Interest Rate Strategist Gennadiy Goldberg says on this Macro Matters podcast episode hosted by Bloomberg Intelligence’s Chief US Interest Rate Strategist Ira Jersey. Goldberg discusses his views on the Treasury market, the future of global monetary-policy actions and investor expectations for the economy. In this week’s Interest Rate Intro segment, US Interest Rate Strategy associate Will Hoffman asks Jersey about the BI Rates team’s recent research note, which highlighted what may come next for technical yield levels.

Aug 22, 2023 • 51min
Credit Correction: Is That Enough? - Credit Crunch
Credit markets have had a correction in the past month, across the board. It takes us to an interesting juncture where we ask if the correction has longer to go or is largely done, and which asset classes stand to benefit most in its aftermath.In this episode of our Credit Crunch podcast, host Mahesh Bhimalingam, Chief European Credit Strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, and Boris Okuliar, Co-Head of Global Liquid Credit at Ares Management, discuss the situation in global credit and the challenges of directional view after this correction. They discuss rates, yields, credit spreads and supply in detail. There's a particular focus on leveraged loans, high yield bonds, the impact of the CLO market and private lending.

Aug 14, 2023 • 16min
Euro Bullish Cyclical Narrative Holds But Only Just: FX Moment
In our latest FX Moment podcast, host Audrey Childe-Freeman, Bloomberg Intelligence chief G10 FX Strategist and Maeva Cousin, senior euro area economist at Bloomberg Economics, look into the euro and US near-term growth dynamics and how these may shape BI's euro-dollar outlook into year-end. We also touch on the euro-inflation outlook and European Central Bank's rate prospects for 2023 and 2024.For now, our positive euro-dollar relative growth differential outlook holds, but recent euro data have underwhelmed while US data have tended to overwhelm. The euro price action has been resilient thus far, though our strategists conclude this is no time for complacency.