by
Jeff Schlegel
Pimco's Bill Gross says steady, dividend-paying stocks are a better bet than U.S. Treasuries.
Renewed proposals to eliminate the tax-exempt status of municipal bonds
as a way to reduce the $1.5 trillion federal deficit are unlikely to
succeed, said a report by BNY Mellon.
Research Affiliates founder Rob Arnott is developing a fundamental indexing method for bonds that factors in deficits, debt and demographics.
Pimco's Bill Gross says investors in U.S.
Treasuries are being lulled into a false sense of security by positive
returns this year because yields aren't high enough relative to
inflation.
by Nick Murray
Yes, it's an "alternative" investment. But to what?
by Alan Lavine
Advisors should scrutinize the risk-return trade-off of including floating-rate loans in client portfolios.
Bill Gross said investors may be at a disadvantage for as long as
15 years as the U.S. keeps borrowing rates low to reduce its debt
burden.
Fidelity Investments is bullish on the U.S. currency just as Pacific Investment
Management Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are warning investors
against buying.
Analyst Meredith Whitney has backtracked from her controversial forecast last year that the municipal market was headed for a meltdown.
Savers who put their cash in longer- term certificates of deposit are
losing out to inflation, according to Market Rates Insight.
by Justin Gerbereux and Paul Massaro
While
bank loans have a higher risk of default and are more volatile than investment-grade
bonds, they are worth considering for yield-hungry investors.
Credit-rating companies would have to release more information on how
they assess debt securities, ensure the quality of ratings and prevent
conflicts of interest under proposed SEC rules.
The probability of Greece defaulting or restructuring its debt has
increased since the arrest of International Monetary Fund head Dominique
Strauss-Kahn, Pimco's Mohamed El-Erian
said.
Pimco says "deteriorating debt dynamics" will stoke faster inflation and financial
repression in the U.S. and at least one sovereign-debt
restructuring in Europe.
Google Inc., whose shares have dropped 9% this year, is planning a $3 billion bond
sale to pay back short- term borrowings.
When it comes to the unpleasant task of raising the U.S. debt limit, virtually every member of the U.S. Congress is a flip-flopper.
Treasury yields may stay low because inflation is in check, according to
Fidelity Investments, the Boston-based fund company that oversees $1.64
trillion.
S& P's may downgrade 7,077 classes of U.S. home-loan
securities, after updating its loss projections for deals issued during
2005, 2006 and 2007.
Treasury market price swings are approaching the smallest levels
in four years-a sign that the end of the Fed's bond-purchase program won't cause a sell-off.
UBS AG agreed to pay $160.2 million to
settle charges it rigged bids on at least 100 U.S. municipal-bond
transactions that generated "millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains."
