Investment Conundrums: Dimensional's Plecha on why fixed income is 'as effective now as it has ever been'

Showing resilience in the face of the pandemic

Dimensional's systematic fixed income range has reversed some of the positioning that cushioned its funds' exposure to volatility in bond markets at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic last year, with credit and duration exposure being tightened, according to global head of fixed income Dave Plecha.

Plecha, who spearheads the $601bn AUM firm's quantitative and systematic fixed income offering, said Dimensional's "broadest" bond market funds had been "lightening up on credit" in response to the narrowing spreads. "Credit spreads took quite a trip in last year," added Plecha. "They are now back to fairly tight levels." RLAM launches global sustainable credit fund Credit markets saw intense repricing amid the initial impact of coronavirus on the global economy at the end of March 2020, with the most volatile days widening corporate spreads by twice as much as any day during the G...