"If ESG funds only talk the talk, it is because investors, legislators and regulators don’t walk the walk"
Whatever an ESG fund means to you, it probably means something different to the next investor

"There are concerns about volatile sectors in high yield, but IG may be vulnerable to macro changes"
High yield has heavier exposure to energy and travel credits, but IG has more rate duration

"It may be worth adding hedges of six-plus months’ duration when spreads trade this tight"
Options and tranches offer cost-effective hedges amid tight credit spreads  

"Pain is on the way: spreads are too tight, while compression and carry are done. But what if it's not?"
Welshcake reminds us that mid-cycle portfolio management is a funny old game  

"In the afternoon I awoke from a pile of willow leaves to discover we had created a Welsh ether-based token"
A localised crypto-currency boom and bust cycle teaches Welshcake (again) that everything becomes correlated in a downturn  

Past returns: Having a whale of a time in tranches
In Creditflux 10 years ago we reported on JP Morgan’s “little known prop book” making waves in index tranches

Past returns: Hedging is back
Ten years ago in Creditflux we reported that loan managers had begun hedging after loan prices stabilised back to par following the global financial crisis. These loan managers were worried about future loan slumps and began using credit options and ETFs

We say it: Creditflux salutes women in credit
The credit industry is blessed with many strong women and for this issue of Creditflux we’re exclusively hearing their voices across our news, analysis and columns

"Watch the IG credit curve — we may see steepening of IG 5s10s and flattening of 10s30s"
Stimulus measures are supporting short tenors, and pension demand for 30-year paper is strong, so 10-year IG credit may have few buyers

CLO guys shouldn't feel quite as self-important as us Welsh... But you are in a pretty amazing spot
CLO portfolio managers should be emboldened by recent events to push for ESG strategies 

I'm a nosy neighbour... get CSO deals public and embrace the age of information
A year of staying under the radar has not helped the CSO market

They said it: "I am extraordinarily proud of the firm I have helped build"
Apollo chief executive officer Leon Black announces he is stepping down.

Virus-impacted sectors may suffer greater distress in Europe than in the US
Investors may take different paths to capture positive convexity in US and European credit markets in 2021

Speculative protection buying censures managements that seek only to enhance their own wealth
The Catholic church misses the mark when referring to CDS as ‘finance of chance’

Cessation of activity mid-December is an opportunity to switch off… and let the mind wander
Welshcake is grateful for a lull in credit markets. The downtime has inspired him to dream up a CLO play

I foresee various spooky spectacles hitting our screens - and your long portfolios
Welshcake is settling in for a horror movie marathon. But in the previews he sees monsters lurking behind tight credit spreads

Past returns: Bravo! Citi takes applause with CSO portfolios
Five years ago in Creditflux we reported that Citi was planning a follow up to its Bravo portfolio — a CSO reference entity in which the bank made two-way markets

They said it: "Clearing houses have proposed they will clear index tranches next year"
More liquidity for the index tranche market

Gaining exposure to US IG credit through the index means giving up about 10% of potential value
A bespoke portfolio of IG credits can take advantage of the skew between indices and single names

They said it: "We’re going to change the world of finance"
Big ambitions in blockchain

The surge in index tranche trading has resulted in a deep, liquid and nuanced set of market dynamics
Welshcake emerges from his bunker to find CLOs still standing and the CSO market getting back to business

They said it: "Imagine a garden party and all of a sudden a big wasp shows up"
On Creditflux’s US CLO webinar last month, Napier Park’s head of US CLO investments Serhan Secmen described the March sell-off as a garden party

Points up front: Channelling Twain, Agent Smith and Mike Tyson
Lockdown can adversely affect one’s grasp of reality, and for credit portfolio managers this has manifested itself in a penchant for quoting famous (sometimes fictional) figures