Artisan Canvas

Through the first six months of 2021, high yield credit markets have provided an above-coupon return on the back of tighter credit spreads—though this has been somewhat offset by the increase in Treasury yields. The benign credit backdrop and deep bid for yield has favored a down-in-quality approach, particularly among economic reopening beneficiaries. Across the capital structure, loans have benefited from investor focus on rising rates. Loans have provided strong absolute gains so far, but receding inflation expectations led to lower Treasury yields in Q2, which in turn weighed on relative returns for the floating-rate asset class.

Looking for additional summer beach reading to go along with your latest murder mystery, self-improvement book or crossword puzzle? Now is a good time to get some fresh perspectives on investing and financial markets.

We queried our investment teams about some of their favorite books and how those reads have impacted their approach to investing.

We hope you enjoy!

Featured Author: Meagan Nace
Meagan Nace is an analyst on the Artisan Partners Sustainable Emerging Markets Team.

In addition to the public health tragedy, the pandemic has been a source of significant economic and fiscal setbacks for Latin America—at a time when social discontent over inequality was already beginning to surface. While we see some signs of economic improvement, the pandemic led to drops in much-needed investment—foreign, corporate and government—while fiscal conditions have become further strained. Now, a series of elections will reveal what leaders and policies each country feels will help it move forward—with potentially significant implications for the region’s financial markets.

This recent ransomware attack on America’s energy infrastructure has me concerned. Imagine the chaos if the clandestine cyberweapons market shutters America’s electrical power grid. I mean, how would Americans access their trillion dollars of crypto?!? How will I know if my friends have laser-eyed avatars and will get offended when I don’t accept bitcoin as barter for my backup generator?

Supply/Demand is a semi-regular feature of the Artisan Canvas rounding up interesting and quirky subjects from across the Internet with a focus on economic and business trends. A good rule of thumb among the Artisan Canvas editorial staff is “never reason from a price change.” With that in mind, our latest edition of Supply/Demand.

The price tags for (seemingly) everything have gone up, from electronics to cars to food—partly because commodities prices have also jumped. Some are related to pandemic recovery, particularly in China. For others, geopolitics are at play—again, also frequently related to China. Here are the commodities trends that caught our collective eye:

As the US economy fully reopens and folks are able to return to their traditional spending patterns (to what degree only time will tell), price increases for a number of goods and services should not be a surprise. Indeed, many have seen it coming for a while.

While most segments of fixed income offer paltry yields with growing risk levels—either credit or interest rate—and valuations that are back to pre-pandemic levels, the high yield market remains one of the few areas that still provides positive real yields while benefiting from a credit quality mix that is at all-time highs. 

Disrupted. Is there a better word to describe the past 12 months? Disrupted lives. Disrupted routines. Disrupted travel. Disrupted work. Disrupted education. Disrupted supply chains. Disrupted markets.

In late March, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fired the country’s central bank head Naci Agbal, along with his deputy 10 days later, making Agbal the third fired central bank leader in less than two years and curtailing his tenure at roughly four months. A former member of Parliament (and fellow member of Erdogan’s Justice and Development party), Sahap Kavcioglu, will assume the (historically perilously short-lived) role. 

Perhaps you missed it, but Japan’s equity market is back to levels not seen since before its 1991 crash and subsequent lost decade—arguably decades. In March, the Topix Index reached a 31-year high and has since held up relatively well despite a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, a seemingly slow start to vaccinations, renewed business restrictions, an earthquake in February and the decision to hold the Tokyo Olympics at least without fans from abroad and possibly without any at all.