Refinitiv's Dewi John: Lifting the lid on strategic bond performance

Defaults creeping up but are still relatively low

What has been driving returns in the IA’s Sterling Strategic Bond sector? Its portfolio managers have more flexibility than most to deal with the storms that have hit fixed income over the past couple of years.

We recently took a high-level view of the Sterling Strategic Bond sector, and have since received a sack full of requests to delve deeper, in terms of how the sector has navigated credit quality and duration. M&G's Jim Leaviss on three decades in bonds: 'An incredible puzzle', scary times and embracing the arts Average three-year returns for the sector (to end April 2024) were -2.64%, but vary considerably by quartile: from 7.42% to negative 13.62%. Credit spectrum Prior to the 2022 spike in inflation, yields were wafer thin, so managers were compelled to move down the credit spe...