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Convertible Bonds Offer Protection Against Stagflation, Other Ills Facing Markets: Daniel Partlow (Szn 4, Ep23)

Daniel Partlow, chief risk officer at Advent Capital Management, joins the podcast to discuss convertible bonds. Partlow is a specialist in these securities, having written a book on the subject titled ‘Convertible Securities: A Complete Guide to Investment and Corporate Financing Strategies.’

Content Highlights

  • First, the basics: What are convertible bonds and how do they work? The asset class has actually been around for more than three centuries… (3:29);
  • Some of the characteristics of converts include a maturity of about four to five years but with low interest rate sensitivity of much shorter duration bonds (6:42);
  • A typical balanced convert will provide downside protection (via the bond floor) and upside potential through the equity participation (9:18);
  • Converts have done well in inflationary environments, with less volatility than stocks (11:44);
  • The default rate for converts is a fraction of high yield and leveraged loans (20:38);
  • Background on the guest (24:59);
  • The specter of stagflation and how converts can protect against that (27:50);
  • Where might there be particular opportunities in the converts market right now? (33:07);
  • Examples of individual securities that may be of interest (37:52).
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The Yield Curve Inverteth

The following is an amended form of the Daily Contrarian briefing from July 5. This briefing and accompanying podcast are released to premium subscribers each market day morning by 0700. To subscribe, visit our Substack.

The yield-curve between the 2-year and 10-year just inverted. What this means is the shorter-dated yield (the 2-year in this instance) is actually higher than the longer-dated one (the 10-year). To be specific, the 2-year yield is currently 2.81% while the 10-year is 2.80%.

So there you have it. It’s not the first time this has happened this cycle. In fact, the 2/10 curve inverted as recently as June 14. Also in March. This is one recession predictor that is deemed to be pretty accurate for reasons that are discussed in this Investopedia article.

This yield curve inversion gives us something to talk about today, as things are still mostly quiet after the long holiday weekend. Most of the action this week is back-loaded, with the June jobs report due on Friday.

Markets got some good news around easing of China tariffs over the weekend, but the mood is mostly pretty dour. CNBC reports the outlook for the second half is “not looking good.” A contrarian indicator? Maybe. Or maybe it just isn’t a good idea to fight the Fed?

Meme captioned by author

Americans have apparently started tapping into their savings to cope with inflation. That’s not good, but there is a ready-made boogey man in the Federal Reserve. Lest we forget: the Fed insisted the inflation we were seeing last year was transitory. They’ve changed their tune on this, but the point is they don’t have political leeway to reverse course again — until inflation is well and truly under control (or they have some data to point to that will allow them to ‘declare victory’).

Whatever your views on all this, the truth is nobody has any idea what is going to happen. There are educated guesses but there are also people with a vested interest in pushing a specific narrative. Do your own research, make your own decisions.

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Russia Bond Default, Crypto Fund Blow-Up No Concern to Markets (Yet)

The following is an amended form of the Daily Contrarian briefing from June 27. This briefing and accompanying podcast are released to premium subscribers each market day morning by 0700. To subscribe, visit our Substack.

Over the weekend we received a couple of troublesome headlines about a Russian bond default and potentially the blow-up of a crypto hedge fund

Markets appear to have shrugged this off, moving higher in the pre-market. While this bounce faded at the open, major indexes are only down a few basis points at the time of this writing (0940 EDT on Monday). Cryptos are down a bit, with bitcoin dropping by about 2% to dip below $21,000.

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