Fidelity's Spreadbury: Ten years on from the credit crunch - are we seeing similar risks?

Three big differences

As we move closer to the tenth anniversary of the credit crunch, Fidelity fixed income portfolio manager Ian Spreadbury believes today's environment is eerily similar to that of 2007, but with three significant differences.

We are now incredibly almost ten years on from the early stages of the credit crunch, yet much of the background all seems eerily similar to where we are today. 2006 was a year of global monetary tightening with the US tightening cycle having started in 2004 on the back of reasonably solid GDP growth and a modest pick-up in inflation. Global GDP growth had averaged about 5% p.a. over the three years to the end of 2006. Fidelity launches short-dated corporate bond fund for Vaid and Spreadbury Both bond and equity market volatility were at, or close to, all-time lows, as were corpora...