SLI's Sutherland piles into high yield in Strategic Bond fund

Standard Life Investments' (SLI) Andrew Sutherland has revamped the £87m Strategic Bond fund by significantly raising his high yield exposure from 15% to 50%.

Sutherland made the bullish move last week as with average high yield spreads at 9%, he believes a serious global catastrophe has been priced in. However, the manager does not believe the economy will enter a double-dip recession and has made the tactical allocation switch in order to profit from poor investor sentiment towards the space, with high yield issuance also slowing in Q3. "With spreads at 9%, now is the time to buy high yield as the space is discounting a serious global catastrophe, which I believe will not happen," said Sutherland. "The economic data coming out of the U...