Fixed income investors should not chase yields in the coming months, even as interest rates remain near zero, according to Brett Wander, chief investment officer of fixed income for Charles Schwab Investment Management.

Investors’ focus should be on the long term, and they should not be distracted by daily volatility, said Wander who spoke at Schwab’s mid-year outlook webinar Thursday.

“We are likely to have a low interest rate environment for a long time to come, maybe for a number of years,” he added. “Investors would be wise to appreciate the fact that we are in a new world. Even before the virus, the Federal Reserve Board was struggling with low inflation and low interest rates.

“Investors should remain true to their mix of stocks and bonds because yield can stay low for a long time. This is not the time to take on more risk,” he added, “because you are not going to be rewarded for taking more risk.”

“We just experienced the fastest bear market on record, which has been followed by a significant recovery,” noted Omar Aguilar, Schwab’s chief investment officer for passive equity and multi-assets. “Our financial institutions are fairly stable because they were not part of the problem, as they were in 2008-2009, but are part of the solution.

“However, none of this has been resolved. We cannot know the depth of this problem until we resolve the health problem,” he added. “There is more volatility to come.”

Among the things advisors and investors should keep an eye on is the economic stability of China, consumers’ attitudes, credit markets and unemployment, Aguilar said. Advisors should look for solutions that follow a long-term investment philosophy and not let clients make emotional decisions.

Bill McMahon, chief investment officer of Schwab’s active equity strategies, said investors are going to be looking at future earnings figures, which were weak in the second quarter.

He added that large banks have maintained stability because they have insured they have enough reserves in place and corporate dividends probably will not be cut as much as they have been in Europe.

“Everything depends on the cadence of the Covid-19 cases to be seen in the next months,” McMahon said.