Rates moves points to credit improvement, say BofA strategists
Focus on the rates market and the future direction of central banks has brought jitters back to credit in recent weeks and had a chilling affect on bond total returns. But higher government yields could end up being good for credit, say Bank of America strategists

ESG growth in CLOs has momentum in 2021, say JPM strategists
ESG investing in securitised products such as CLOs have 'momentum for growth in 2021' despite very slow volume growth and lack of progress in standardised scoring over the past year, say JP Morgan strategists in a research note

AGL hires ex Wells Fargo CLO research head Preston
AGL Credit Management has hired former Wells Fargo CLO research head David Preston

Buy CLO equity to capitalise on reflation, says JP Morgan
CLO equity stands out in a tightly priced market as offering up to double digit yields, say JP Morgan structured credit strategists, who posit it as their top trade

Bet on beta compression - except in sub fin CDS, say BofA strategists
Beta compression will be a dominant theme in 2021 for high yield versus investment grade CDS and bonds, financial versus non-financial credit and subordinated versus senior financial bonds, say Bank or America strategists in a research note. Short volatility positions are also attractive, they add, while cautioning sub versus senior financial CDS could buck the trend

Loan market delivers best one-day returns since April due to US election and vaccine
The S&P/LSTA Leveraged Loan Index recorded its best single day returns since April on Monday as investors celebrated in a string of positive developments that sent markets into overdrive

Robots rise for credit ratings
A fintech platform is launching this month that aims to use artificial intelligence to democratise credit ratings.

High yield outperformance to bring compression trade back into play: Citi
High yield underperformance versus investment grade is expected to reverse following the US presidential election, according to a strategy note from Citi. The bank’s strategists have been advocating compression trades since July and feel that there is more room for this to run citing election trends, exposure to coronavirus credits, expected default rates and credit ratings

Wells Fargo parts ways with star CLO research team
Wells Fargo is parting ways with its star CLO research team led by managing director David Preston

Senior bond-flex CLO tranches are 'cheapest bonds within securitised products': BofA
Triple A-rated notes of bond-flex CLOs are 'one of the cheapest bonds within securitised products', according to a new research paper by Bank of America

Go long index mezz tranches to pick up spread: Citi
Citi research has outlined some of the opportunities that have arisen in the index tranche market as a result of elevated correlation

CRE CLOs show resilience to sector decline in office properties, says Moody's
Commercial real estate CLOs are protected against a sector decline in office properties, Moody's has said in new research. CRE CLOs have structural protections, while portfolio office properties are largely in lower-cost areas with diversified economies and tenants, it argues

Size matters: exposure to small loan facilities worse than covid industries, says BofA
CLO managers that hold a higher portion of smaller sized facility loans in their portfolios have performed worse through the pandemic, according to a Bank of America research paper

Private debt secondaries volume nosedives 81% in H1
Global private debt fund secondaries volume nosedived 81.8% during the first half of 2020 as the effects of coronavirus began to surface, according to a recently released report by Setter Capital

Governance has greatest impact on short-term changes in company valuation out of ESG factors, finds MSCI
Governance has more impact than environmental and social factors on company financial fundamentals and stock price in the short term, but ‘E’ and ‘S’ play their part over the long term, according to analysis from MSCI

Go for short-duration and high-end CLO paper, says JP Morgan
This year is shaping up to be nearly as weak for CLO new issuance as 2008, according to JP Morgan strategists, who recommend investors seek value in short duration double/triple A paper or in higher-tier triple/double B

CLO and distressed fund recovery disparity could grow, say Barclays
CLO investors should apply a haircut to the $55-60 loan recovery range to better estimate recoveries in CLO models, as the disparity between how distressed debt funds and CLOs extract value in a loan restructuring is expected to widen

Leveraged loan spreads to widen to March levels, warn UBS strategists
US leveraged loan spreads could widen back to March levels of 825 basis points as default risk increases, according to strategists at UBS.

US CLOs did not lose par in March, finds JP Morgan
A research paper from JP Morgan has estimated there was no US CLO par burn in March, although loss of par for the first quarter was 11%

CLO managers favour tech, cable and healthcare as loan downgrade fears dominate, finds JP Morgan
Picking safe sectors to buy in the coronavirus crisis is a tough call, but CLO managers variously favour technology, cable/satellite and healthcare, according to a JP Morgan survey. There is much more consensus on dumping autos, energy, gaming/lodging/leisure and retail

30% of CLOs will breach their 7.5% triple C buckets, says BofA
The number of CLOs tripping their 7.5% buckets for loans rated triple C is set to soar from 8% to around 30%, according to the latest research from Bank of America

CIFC hires research head from Genworth Financial
CIFC Asset Management has hired a head of research in its New York office

Fed cut triggers Libor floors on third of US loans
Roughly a third of US loans effectively became fixed rate investments this week as Libor edged below 1% for the first time since January 2017

European CLO managers with big bond buckets do best, finds Bank of America
European CLO managers that trade in the secondary market and hold a higher percentage of fixed rate assets are likely to outperform their peers, Bank of America finds in latest research

Volcker amendments will be good for CLO equity and bad for CLO debt, says Wells Fargo
Proposed changes to the Volcker rule announced last week by the Federal Reserve, which would allow CLO managers to hold 5% bond buckets, are positive for CLO equity and ‘marginally negative’ for CLO debtholders, according to a research paper from Wells Fargo