Category Archives: Equities

Home Is For Your Heart, Not Your Portfolio

Posted on August 2, 2018 by

A number of years ago I took over a portfolio that held corporate bonds from both developed and emerging markets. As I looked through the holdings a name popped out at me, Ipiranga. I turned to my credit analyst and … Continue reading →

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Chinese Debt for Equity Swaps, 3 Card Monte By Another Name?

Posted on April 6, 2016 by

The Chinese government is bandying about debt for equity swaps as a potential cure for the overhang of corporate debt in the middle kingdom.  Much, if not most, of the bank loans in China have been made by government owned banks to … Continue reading →

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Banking the Fire

Posted on February 18, 2016 by

The narrative of the current market downturn, bear market, correction or whatever you prefer to call it had been about oil, China and the emerging markets.  Now the banks have been put into play.  Year to date their decline has outstripped … Continue reading →

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Junk Bonds or Equities With Coupons?

Posted on December 10, 2015 by

“Equities with Coupons” is a cynical description of high yield  bonds.  The expression, like many of its kind, contains more than an element of truth. Usually it’s invoked when trying to illustrate the risk of owning bonds priced near par. You may collect … Continue reading →

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Can Bonds Tell Us Something About the Stock Market?

Posted on October 16, 2015 by

I was visiting with the head of fixed income at a large asset manager when I mentioned the subject of my last post, the deterioration of corporate credit in some sectors.  He noted that Baa bond spreads had been rising for … Continue reading →

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Apres China Le Deluge?

Posted on July 6, 2015 by

China’s stock market has been in the news due to its recent plunge.  The plunge follows a strong run up over the last year. Whatever the reason for the spike up and the subsequent dive, this is a Chinese problem whose … Continue reading →

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Should You Fade the Plunge?

Posted on January 29, 2015 by

Many market cycles are marked by disproportionate investment in one sector.  That sector, post financial crisis, was energy, particularly oil.  The oil price fell with the crisis, bottomed at the end of 2008 and rallied to post crisis highs in April 2011 … Continue reading →

Posted in Equities, High Yield | Tagged , | 1 Comment