Fixed Income
Switching to Neutral in Global Fixed Income
Posted onFor much of the year global bond yields have been moving lower. It has been five years since the European Central Bank has introduced negative interest rate policies (NIRP), while others like Bank of Japan, Switzerland and Sweden have also jumped on the NIRP bandwagon. Meant to be temporary, central banks have not had a chance to wean their economies off them, and more recently have become likely to push policy rates deeper into negative territory. September sees several key central banks’ meetings, which are widely expected to introduce additional easing.
25% of the world’s bond market (50% of non-US investment grade bonds) currently trades with a negative yield. The global bond market now yields around 1.4%, down 100bp over the last 12 months. As a whole, Citi analysts see decreased opportunities in global fixed income, given that central bank easing is aggressively priced in. As such, Citi’s Global Investment Committee has shifted its overweight position in global fixed income to neutral.

Relative value in USTs, US IG and EM debt. Global rates are expected to remain low and uncertainty high, but the search for yield is likely to remain a key market theme. On relative value, US bond market yields still appear globally attractive. US treasuries (USTs) yield 130bp higher than the average non-US developed sovereign bond market, while in US investment grade (IG) corporate bonds, the differential exceeds 225bp. Emerging market (EM) debt also looks attractive relative to their developed market peers.
Reflective of the typical bond investor’s primary objective of receiving cash flow, Citi is underweight all negative and ultra-low yielding bond markets and has further deepened their underweight in European sovereign debt. With the average Eurozone yield at -0.5%, investors may need to look elsewhere in their search for yield.


