Neuberger Berman, an asset manager with eight decades under its belt, is on the lookout for cracks in credit markets from the Federal Reserve’s rate-hiking campaign. Erik Knutzen, chief investment officer of multi asset, worries that several factors could be a tipping point for the economy, from an economic slowdown in China to U.S. consumers finally becoming exhausted by higher rates.
Yet Knutzen expects the high-yield, or junk bond, market to serve as the “canary in the coal mine” for broader market volatility, acting as “perhaps the most visible threat, and therefore one we think could be priced in sooner than later.” The Bloomberg U.S. High Yield Bond Index has returned 6.4% through the end of August, producing one of the year’s highest gains in fixed income, helped along by a “resilient U.S. economy coupled with still-available financial liquidity,” according to the Wells Fargo Investment Institute. But Knutzen worries that as the high-yield maturity wall draws closer, “the first policy rate cuts get priced further and further out, raising the threat of expensive refinancings.” The 10-year Treasury yield’s
BX: TMUBMUSD10Y
climb to a multidecade high in August of almost 4.4% left many major U.S. corporations in early September hesitant to borrow beyond 10 years. Starting next year, some $700 billion of high-yield bonds are set to mature through the end of 2027, with a big slice of the refinancing need coming from companies with riskier credit ratings below the top BB ratings bracket.
The junk-bond maturity wall.
Bloomberg, Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Moody’s Investors Service
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