Fixed income outlook: A better year for bonds or more pain ahead?

Inflationary pressures

Investment heads and asset allocators are divided on the outlook for bonds in 2019 following a tumultuous year for the asset class.

The global bond market struggled in 2018 as continuing economic growth drove inflation fears, with the Bloomberg Barclays Multiverse Index - a broad-based measure of the global fixed-income bond market - reporting losses of 1.4% over the year, closing at 219.49. Indeed, ten-year US Treasuries hit a critical level of 3% in April for the first time in five years, further reinforcing the market view that inflation was moving upwards. Divergent monetary policy However, Mark Burgess, deputy global chief investment officer and CIO, EMEA at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, said 2019 is s...