What support are balance sheets offering in the hunt for yield?

High yield

Christophe Akel, manager of the GLG Global Corporate Bond fund, discusses the attractions of the investment grade universe.

We currently find ourselves in an environment in which investors want to take risk off the table but have little idea about where to find refuge. At the turn of the year, consensus expectations were that UK interest rates would rise in May, but some economists no longer expect any increase before 2014. With interest rates at record lows across the developed world, cash is simply not a viable option. Similarly, in the currency markets, the dollar had, until recently, been decimated by the impact of quantitative easing. Meanwhile the Swiss National Bank has intervened to weaken the fran...