Friend or foe: Bond markets in 2018

PARTNER INSIGHT: Mike Amey, managing director and portfolio manager for the PIMCO Select UK Income Bond and PIMCO GIS Global Libor Plus Bond funds, on how he is approaching the bond universe in today's atypical market cycle.

Q. What is your outlook for bonds? Different parts of the global economy are at different points in the business cycle. However, in spite of this, we are seeing for the first time in seven or eight years, a synchronised global recovery that central banks are acting on. Markets have priced in two Federal Reserve rate hikes in 2018, but our base expectation is for three to four this calendar year. We also believe two increases are perfectly plausible for the Bank of England. These expectations are creating some volatility, however we do not expect a material backup in bond yields. The m...