Investment-grade credit

Climate change, natural resource scarcity and social shifts are transforming the corporate landscape. Investors need to understand the implications of these sustainability megatrends to manage risks and seize opportunities.

In a world where potential pitfalls loom around every corner, Peter Fitzgerald and Ian Pizer explain why investors need to look beyond what financial models are telling them to keep portfolios resilient to the challenges ahead.

James Vokins and Chris Higham from our investment-grade credit team discuss opportunities and risks in a higher rates world.

Cracks have begun to emerge in the banking sector in recent weeks. As the tide of cheap money that has flooded financial markets for more than a decade ebbs, members of our investment teams are on the lookout for other signs of distress.

With a series of shocks hitting the emerging-market sovereign bond universe in recent years, investors need to be alert to the danger individual countries’ debt is being placed in the wrong risk bucket and mispriced, argues Carmen Altenkirch.

China looks set for a rapid economic rebound in the first quarter after finally abandoning its zero-COVID policy. But will the recovery prove temporary as longer-term dynamics reassert themselves?

Energy analyst Kingsmill Bond considers if peak fossil-fuel consumption has been reached and whether investors appreciate the implications.

Millions of hours have been spent negotiating net-zero targets, but many human-led climate impacts are already locked in. Our credit and equities portfolio managers explain where they see opportunities in solutions providers that will help society adapt for the new reality.

While uncertainty around the US rate-hiking cycle is affecting appetite for emerging-market debt, discerning investors can still find attractive opportunities in 2023, say Aaron Grehan and Carmen Altenkirch.

The war in Ukraine has thrown up huge uncertainties around the role of gas in the energy system. Experts from our credit, ESG and real assets teams discuss the implications for traditional energy and renewables companies.

We take a visual approach to explain what’s happening with bonds, equities and oil.

Oliver Judd and Betty Sanchez Torres argue that despite a recovery in prices, banking sector securities continue to offer value so long as a deeper recession is avoided.

Despite ongoing market volatility and geopolitical uncertainty, 2023 could bring attractive opportunities for fixed-income investors, says Barney Goodchild.

James Vokins and Chris Higham from our credit team believe the path of inflation will remain the central question for investors in 2023. Fixed-income investors should remain cautious until that path is more certain, but fundamental analysis can still uncover attractive opportunities.

After a bruising 12 months, our emerging-market debt team anticipates an improvement in the asset class’ fortunes in 2023 as declining inflation allows central banks to ease back on monetary tightening. But with many issuers still at risk of default, investors will need to tread cautiously.

Macroeconomic forces have been key drivers of performance in the global high-yield market in recent months, but 2023 is likely to bring a renewed focus on issuer fundamentals, say Sunita Kara and Brent Finck.