Market and Economic Chartbook

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Market and Economic Chartbook Fixed Income & Interest Rates Weekly Update Philip G. Palumbo, CFP® | CEO & Chief Investment Officer | October 19, 2020 • Long-term interest rates have plummeted in 2020 due to the pandemic and economic uncertainty. • The 10-year Treasury yield continues to hover at historically low levels due partly to Fed rate cuts. • Interest rates could remain low as uncertainty over economic growth hangs over financial markets. • The yield curve is still flat due to falling long-term interest rates. • However, the yield curve is no longer inverted since the Fed cut rates to zero. • Economic uncertainty due to COVID-19 will likely keep interest rates across the yield curve low for some time. • Just as all interest rates have been falling for decades, so have mortgage rates. The average mortgage rate since 1990 is around 6%. • However, mortgage rates today are significantly lower due to the recession and Fed stimulus. • LIBOR is an important interest rate for global banks. Historically, it has followed the fed funds rate closely. • However, they can diverge during times of economic stress, such as during the global financial crisis. • Due to scandals around LIBOR, financial institutions are expected to find a replacement in the future. • Corporate bond spreads have widened recently due to global market volatility. • Over the past decades, corporate bonds - especially high yield - was an attractive way to generate income. • Corporate bonds are an important portfolio diversifier to stock market and government bond holdings. • This chart shows corporate bond yields by credit rating across credit cycles. • Yields were significantly higher in the early 2000s, during the crisis in 2008, and in 2016. • While lower quality yields have risen due to COVID-19, they have now stabilized. • High yield spreads widened dramatically due to COVID-19 but have now calmed. • This has happened periodically over the past cycle, most recently during the oil crash of 2014-2016. • Spreads also widened at the end of 2018 on global market concerns but recovered quickly. • This chart shows the price and total return indices for leveraged loans. • Leveraged loan prices have declined due to recent volatility. However, this also implies higher yields. • For some investors, leveraged loan yields are attractive today as part of a diversified portfolio. • The TED spread measures the difference between 3-month Treasury yields and LIBOR. • As such, it can be a measure of stress in the financial system. • In 2008, the TED spread widened significantly as the financial system began to fail. • This chart shows overnight indexed swap (OIS) rates at which banks use to borrow/lend. • These rates are based on the federal funds rate over different durations. • Similar to the federal funds rate on its own, these are watched as a sign of rising interest rates. • This chart shows the spread between LIBOR and OIS rates, both of which are used by banks. • Similar to the TED spread, this is an indicator of financial stress in the system. • Also like the TED spread, this indicator widened significantly in 2008 due to stress in the banking system. • This chart shows the spreads between benchmark rates in Europe. • Similar to TED and LIBOR-OIS spreads for the US/London, this highlights times of stress in the European financial system. • These spreads widened significantly during 2008 and the Eurozone crisis around 2011-2012. .
Recommended publications
  • Curve Building and Swap Pricing in the Presence of Collateral and Basis Spreads
    Curve Building and Swap Pricing in the Presence of Collateral and Basis Spreads SIMON GUNNARSSON Master of Science Thesis Stockholm, Sweden 2013 Curve Building and Swap Pricing in the Presence of Collateral and Basis Spreads SIMON GUNNARSSON Master’s Thesis in Mathematical Statistics (30 ECTS credits) Master Programme in Mathematics (120 credits) Supervisor at KTH was Boualem Djehiche Examiner was Boualem Djehiche TRITA-MAT-E 2013:19 ISRN-KTH/MAT/E--13/19--SE Royal Institute of Technology School of Engineering Sciences KTH SCI SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden URL: www.kth.se/sci Abstract The eruption of the financial crisis in 2008 caused immense widening of both domestic and cross currency basis spreads. Also, as a majority of all fixed income contracts are now collateralized the funding cost of a financial institution may deviate substantially from the domestic Libor. In this thesis, a framework for pricing of collateralized interest rate derivatives that accounts for the existence of non-negligible basis spreads is implemented. It is found that losses corresponding to several percent of the outstanding notional may arise as a consequence of not adapting to the new market conditions. Keywords: Curve building, swap, basis spread, cross currency, collateral Acknowledgements I wish to thank my supervisor Boualem Djehiche as well as Per Hjortsberg and Jacob Niburg for introducing me to the subject and for providing helpful feedback along the way. I also wish to express gratitude towards my family who has supported me throughout my education. Finally, I am grateful that Marcus Josefsson managed to devote a few hours to proofread this thesis.
    [Show full text]
  • Evidence from a Financial Crisis Emanuela Giacomini *, Xiaohong
    Effects of Bank Lending Shocks on Real Activity: Evidence from a Financial Crisis a a Emanuela Giacomini *, Xiaohong (Sara) Wang a Graduate School of Business, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-7168, USA January 15, 2012 Abstract U.S. banks experienced dramatic declines in capital and liquidity during the financial crisis of 2007-2009. We study the effect of shocks on banks’ capital and liquidity positions on their borrowers’ investment decisions. The recent financial crisis serves as a natural experiment in the sense that the crisis was not expected by banks ex-ante, and had a detrimental but heterogeneous impact on banks’ capitals and liquidity positions ex-post. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that borrowers of more affected banks reduced more investment during the crisis. We find that borrowing firms whose banks have a higher level of non-performing loans and lower level of tier one capital, hold less liquid asset, and experience greater stock price drop tend to invest less in the capital expenditure when comparing investment before and during the crisis. Shocks on banks, however, have limited effect on firm R&D expenditures and net working capital. Our results suggest that shocks on banks’ capital and liquidity positions negatively affect borrowers’ investment levels, in particular their capital expenditures. EFM Classification Codes: 510, 520. * Corresponding author. Tel.: 352 392 8913; fax: 352 392 0301. E-mail address: [email protected] (Emanuela Giacomini), [email protected] (Xiaohong (Sara) Wang). 1 1. Introduction During the 2007-2009 financial crisis, U.S. banks experienced dramatic declines in capital from bad loan write-downs and collateralized debt obligation value plunges.
    [Show full text]
  • The Global Credit Spread Puzzle∗
    The Global Credit Spread Puzzle∗ Jing-Zhi Huangy Yoshio Nozawaz Zhan Shix Penn State HKUST Tsinghua University December 19, 2019 Abstract Using security-level credit spread data in eight developed economies, we document a large cross- country difference in credit spreads conditional on credit ratings and other default risk measures. The standard benchmark structural models not only have difficulty matching credit spreads but also fail to explain the cross-country variation in spreads as well as the dynamic behavior of credit spreads. Since this cross-country variation is positively related to illiquidity measures, we implement an extended structural model that incorporates endogenous liquidity in the secondary market, and find that this model largely explains credit spreads in cross sections and over time. Therefore, default risk itself unlikely explains corporate credit spreads. JEL Classification: G12, G13 Keywords: Corporate credit spreads, Credit spread puzzle, Structural credit risk models, the Merton model, the Black and Cox model, CDS, Fixed income asset pricing ∗We would like to thank Antje Berndt (discussant), Mehmet Canayaz, Hui Chen, Wenxin Du, Nicolae G^arleanu, Bob Goldstein, Zhiguo He, Grace Hu, Ralph Koijen, Anh Le, Juhani Linnainmaa, Christian Lundblad, Jayoung Nam (discussant), Carolin Pflueger, Alberto Plazzi (discussant), Scott Richardson, Michael Schwert, Matt Spiegel, Fan Yang (discussant), and Haoxiang Zhu; and seminar participants at CICF, the Dolomite Winter Finance Conference, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, HKUST, Lugano, SWUFE, Tsinghua University, and the University of Con- necticut Finance Conference for helpful comments and suggestions. We also thank Terrence O'Brien, Shasta Shakya, and Hongyu Yao for their able research assistance. The initial draft of the paper was prepared when Yoshio Nozawa was at the Federal Reserve Board.
    [Show full text]
  • Market Liquidity Shortage and Banks' Capital Structure and Balance Sheet Adjustments: Evidence from U.S
    Market liquidity shortage and banks' capital structure and balance sheet adjustments: evidence from U.S. commercial Banks Thierno Amadou Barry*, Alassane Diabaté1*, Amine Tarazi*,** * Université de Limoges, LAPE, 5 rue Félix Eboué, 87031 Limoges Cedex, France ** Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), 1 rue Descartes, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France This draft: April 26, 2019 Abstract: Using quarterly data of U.S. commercial banks, we investigate the impact of market liquidity shortages on banks’ capitalization and balance sheet adjustments. Our findings reveal that an acute liquidity shortage leads small U.S. commercial banks, but not large ones, to positively adjust their total capital ratio. Small banks adjust their total capital ratio by downsizing, by restricting dividend payments, by decreasing the share of assets with higher risk weights and specifically by extending less loans. Furthermore, the positive impact on total capital ratios is stronger for small banks which are more reliant on market liquidity and small banks operating below their target capital ratio. JEL Classification: G21, G28 Keywords: bank capital ratio, market liquidity shortage, capital structure adjustment 1 Corresponding author. Tel: +33 555149251 *Email Address: [email protected] (T. A. Barry), [email protected] (A. Diabaté), [email protected] (A. Tarazi) 1 Market liquidity shortage and banks' capital structure and balance sheet adjustments: evidence from U.S. commercial Banks Abstract: Using quarterly data of U.S. commercial banks, we investigate the impact of market liquidity shortages on banks’ capitalization and balance sheet adjustments. Our findings reveal that an acute liquidity shortage leads small U.S. commercial banks, but not large ones, to positively adjust their total capital ratio.
    [Show full text]
  • Bond Market Review | May 4, 2020
    Bond Market Review | May 4, 2020 Summary Treasury Yields Its wa another solid week for the bond market as the spread sectors and Treasury yields • Treasury Term ∆ MTD ∆ YTD rallied. Accommodative commentary from the Fed and the European Central Bank (ECB) Yield and continued flattening of the virus curve provided the positive catalyst. 1 Year • Munis lagged Treasuries for a second consecutive week although crossover taxable buyers 0.16 0.02 -1.41 entered the tax-free market Thursday to take advantage of the corporate-like yields. 2 Year 0.19 -0.01 -1.38 • Corporate spreads have stabilized at the current elevated levels after moving significantly 5 Year 0.35 -0.01 -1.34 tighter for the month of April. However, most of the tightening occurred in the first two weeks of the month and we’ve been moving sideways since. 10 Year 0.61 -0.03 -1.31 • The market continues to differentiate between credits although we are beginning to see 30 Year 1.25 -0.04 -1.14 investor demand for lower quality bonds Tax-Exempt • After two weeks of relentless price cuts that saw 10-year AAA municipal yields backup 35+ basis points (bps), buyers returned to the secondary market in force on Friday to reach for bonds up and down the yield curve. Although activity slowed by midday with many offerings priced rich or removed altogether ahead of the weekend, gains remained strong to close out the week. • While the McConnell bankruptcy talk has faded, there is potential weakness to deal with in the near-term.
    [Show full text]
  • Intraday Pricing and Liquidity Effects of U.S. Treasury Auctions*
    Intraday Pricing and Liquidity Effects of U.S. Treasury Auctions Michael J. Fleming, Federal Reserve Bank of New York Weiling Liu, Harvard University First draft: May 15, 2014 This draft: September 30, 2017 Abstract We examine the intraday effects of U.S. Treasury auctions on the pricing and liquidity of the most recently issued notes. We find that prices decrease in the hours preceding auction and recover in the hours following. The magnitude of the price changes is positively correlated with bid-ask spreads, price impact, volatility, and other measures of financial stress. We further find that liquidity tends to be better right before an auction, albeit worse at auction time and thereafter. Our results provide high frequency evidence of supply shocks causing price pressure effects and show dealers’ limited risk-bearing capacity helps explain such effects. JEL Codes: G12, G14, E43, H63 Keywords: Liquidity; dealer intermediation; price pressure; supply effects; returns Fleming: [email protected], (212) 720-6372); Liu: [email protected]. The authors are grateful to Tobias Adrian, Charles Jones, and seminar participants at the Bank for International Settlements (Asian Office), Bank of Thailand, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning, First International Conference on Sovereign Bond Markets, and FTG Summer School for helpful comments. Ron Yang provided excellent research assistance. Views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System. 1. Introduction The extant literature shows that security supply matters to prices, even in a market as liquid as the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • The Behavior of US Interest Rate Swap Spreads in Global Financial Crisis☆
    The Behavior of US Interest Rate Swap Spreads in Global Financial Crisis☆ Takayasu Ito 【SUMMARY】 This paper investigates the impacts of global financial crisis on interest rate swap spreads in US. The asymmetric impacts of global financial crisis on interest rate swap spreads are focused by dividing the whole sample period into four. One sample is a period for normal time. The other samples are for the period of global financial crisis which are divided into three. The default risk measured in Aaa corporate bond is positively incorporated in 2-year and 10-year swap spreads only in the period before the financial crisis. When financial crisis became worse after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, default risk measured both in Aaa and Baa corporate bonds gave negative impact on the swap spread of 10 years. The positive contribution of liquidity premium is more evident in 2- year swap spread after financial crisis surfaced. Especially after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, FRB began to take non-traditional measures. The market participants were uncertain as for the future of monetary policy by FRB. The speculation on the path of monetary policy and the uncertainty of market are considered to cause more volatility in the market. Thus the volatility can be a positive determinant of US swap spreads after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Keywords: Financial Crisis, Swap Spread, Default Risk, Liquidity Premium, Monetary Policy JEL Classifications: E43, E52 ☆ The research for this paper is supported by Grant-in Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI 19530271) from JSPS. 1 1. INTRODUCTION This paper investigates the impacts of global financial crisis on interest rate swap spreads in US.
    [Show full text]
  • Yield Curve Factor Models
    READING 34 The Term Structure and Interest Rate Dynamics by Thomas S.Y. Ho, PhD, Sang Bin Lee, PhD, and Stephen E. Wilcox, PhD, CFA Thomas S.Y. Ho, PhD, is at Thomas Ho Company Ltd (USA). Sang Bin Lee, PhD, is at Hanyang University (South Korea). Stephen E. Wilcox, PhD, CFA, is at Minnesota State University, Mankato (USA). LEARNING OUTCOMES Mastery The candidate should be able to: a. describe relationships among spot rates, forward rates, yield to maturity, expected and realized returns on bonds, and the shape of the yield curve; b. describe the forward pricing and forward rate models and calculate forward and spot prices and rates using those models; c. describe how zero-coupon­ rates (spot rates) may be obtained from the par curve by bootstrapping; d. describe the assumptions concerning the evolution of spot rates in relation to forward rates implicit in active bond portfolio management; e. describe the strategy of riding the yield curve; f. explain the swap rate curve and why and how market participants use it in valuation;COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL g. calculate and interpret the swap spread for a given maturity; h. describe the Z-­spread; i. describe the TED and Libor–OIS spreads; j. explain traditional theories of the term structure of interest rates and describe the implications of each theory for forward rates and the shape of the yield curve; (continued) © 2014 CFA Institute. All rights reserved. 6 Reading 34 ■ The Term Structure and Interest Rate Dynamics LEARNING OUTCOMES Mastery The candidate should be able to: k. describe modern term structure models and how they are used; l.
    [Show full text]
  • GAO-10-16 Troubled Asset Relief Program
    United States Government Accountability Office Report to Congressional Committees GAO October 2009 TROUBLED ASSET RELIEF PROGRAM One Year Later, Actions Are Needed to Address Remaining Transparency and Accountability Challenges GAO-10-16 October 2009 TROUBLED ASSET RELIEF PROGRAM Accountability Integrity Reliability One Year Later, Actions Are Needed to Address Highlights Remaining Transparency and Accountability Highlights of GAO-10-16, a report to Challenges congressional committees Why GAO Did This Study What GAO Found GAO’s eighth report assesses the Over the last year, TARP in general, and the Capital Purchase Program (CPP) Troubled Asset Relief Program’s in particular, along with other efforts by the Board of Governors of the (TARP) impact over the last year. Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) and Federal Deposit Insurance Specifically, it addresses (1) the Corporation (FDIC), have made important contributions to helping stabilize evolution of TARP’s strategy and credit markets. To illustrate, figure 1 shows that while it is difficult to isolate the status of TARP programs as of the impact of TARP, the TED spread—a key indicator of credit risk that September 25, 2009; (2) the gauges the willingness of banks to lend to other banks—has narrowed to Department of the Treasury’s levels not seen since market turmoil began in late 2007. However, TARP is still (Treasury) progress in creating an a work in progress, and many uncertainties and challenges remain. For effective management structure, example, while some CPP participants had repurchased over $70 billion in preferred shares and warrants as of September 25, 2009, whether Treasury including hiring for the Office of will fully recoup TARP assistance to the automobile industry and American Financial Stability (OFS), International Group Inc., among others, remains uncertain.
    [Show full text]
  • The U.S. Treasury Floating Rate Note Puzzle: Is There A
    THE U.S. TREASURY FLOATING RATE NOTE PUZZLE: IS THERE A PREMIUM FOR MARK-TO-MARKET STABILITY? Matthias Fleckenstein Francis A. Longstaff Abstract. We find that Treasury floating rate notes (FRNs) trade at a signif- icant premium relative to the prices of Treasury bills and notes. This premium differs from previously-documented liquidity premia in Treasury security prices, is directly related to the near-constant nature of FRN prices, and is correlated with measures reflecting investor demand for safe assets. Motivated by evidence that money market funds are often the primary investors in FRNs, we use an important discontinuity in the recent regulatory reform of money market funds to identify exogenous shocks in the demand for investments with stable net asset values (NAVs). The FRN premium is related to flows into money market funds with fixed NAVs, but not to flows into similar funds with variable NAVs. These results provide strong evidence that the FRN premium represents a convenience yield for the mark-to-market stability feature of FRNs. Current draft: June 2019. Matthias Fleckenstein is with the University of Delaware. Francis A. Longstaff is with the UCLA Anderson School and the NBER. This paper was previously titled: “Floating Rate Money? The Stability Premium in Treasury Floating Rate Notes.” We are grateful for the comments and insights of Gurdip Bakshi, Xiao- hui Gao Bakshi, Geert Bekaert, David Brown, Hui Chen, John Cochrane, Dou- glas Diamond, Christian Dreyer (discussant), Andrey Ermolov, Mark Grinblatt, Jean Helwege, Burton Hollifield
    [Show full text]
  • Should the U.S. Government Issue Floating Rate Notes?
    NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES SHOULD THE U.S. GOVERNMENT ISSUE FLOATING RATE NOTES? Jonathan S. Hartley Urban Jermann Working Paper 27065 http://www.nber.org/papers/w27065 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 April 2020 We are grateful for comments from Lou Crandall, John Cochrane, Stefania D'Amico, Stephan Dieckmann, Robin Greenwood, Pricila Maziero, Michael Roberts, Rich Rosen, David Musto, Nick Roussanov, Jeremy Stein, Krista Schwarz, Rob Stambaugh, and Jonathan Wright. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.¸˛ NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications. © 2020 by Jonathan S. Hartley and Urban Jermann. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Should the U.S. Government Issue Floating Rate Notes? Jonathan S. Hartley and Urban Jermann NBER Working Paper No. 27065 April 2020 JEL No. E4,G12,H63 ABSTRACT Since January 2014 the U.S. Treasury has been issuing floating rate notes (FRNs). We estimate that the U.S. FRNs have been paying excess interest between 5 and 39 basis points above the implied cost for other Treasury securities. We find a strong positive relation between our estimated excess spreads on FRNs and the subsequent realized excess returns of FRNs over related T-bill investment strategies.
    [Show full text]
  • Fixed Income
    Fixed Income Study Sessions 12 & 13 Topic Weight on Exam 10–20% SchweserNotesTM Reference Book 4, Pages 1–105 The Term Structure and Interest Rate Dynamics Cross-Reference to CFA Institute Assigned Topic Review #35 This topic review discusses the theories and implications of the term structure of interest rates. In addition to understanding the relationships between spot rates, forward rates, yield to maturity, and the shape of the yield curve, be sure you become familiar with concepts like the z-spread, the TED spread, and the LIBOR- OIS spread and key rate duration. Spot Rates and Forward Rates The spot rate for a particular maturity is equal to a geometric average of the current one-period spot rate and a series of one-period forward rates. (j + k) j k [1 + S(j + k)] = (1 + Sj) [1 + f(j,k)] When the spot curve is flat, forward rates will equal spot rates. When the spot curve is upward sloping (downward sloping), forward rate curves will be above (below) the spot curve, and the yield for a maturity of T will be less than (greater than) the spot rate ST . Evolution of Spot Rates in Relation to Forward Rates If spot rates evolve as predicted by forward rates, bonds of all maturities will realize a one-period return equal to the one-period spot rate, and the forward price will remain unchanged. Active bond portfolio management is built on the presumption that the current forward curve may not accurately predict future spot rates. Managers attempt to outperform the market by making predictions about how spot rates will evolve relative to the rates suggested by forward rate curves.
    [Show full text]