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At the Money: Managing Bond Duration · Masters in Business

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  Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
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  Speaker 2: How should investors manage bond duration in an era of
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  Speaker 2: rising and likely soon falling interest rates? The challenge. Long
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  Speaker 2: duration bonds lose value when rates go up. Shorter duration
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  Speaker 2: bonds can also lose value, but far less. What happens
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  Speaker 2: when the reverse occurs when rates falls, well, the value
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  Speaker 2: of long duration bonds go up, shorter duration go up
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  Speaker 2: but less. As it turns out, there are many ways
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  Speaker 2: investors can take advantage of changing interest rates. I'm Barry Ritolts,
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  Speaker 2: and on today's edition of At the Money, we're going
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  Speaker 2: to discuss how to manage your fixed income duration when
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  Speaker 2: the Federal Reserve becomes active when it comes to interest rates.
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  Speaker 2: To help us unpack all of this and what it
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  Speaker 2: means for your portfolio, let's bring in Karen Vera. She
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  Speaker 2: is head of I Shares US fixed Income strategy for
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  Speaker 2: Investing Giant Blackrock. So Karen, let's just start with the basics.
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  Speaker 2: What is duration, why does it matter? And why does
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  Speaker 2: it seem so confusing to so many bond investors.
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  Speaker 3: So duration is simply the interest rate risk of a bond,
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  Speaker 3: or you can think about it, it's the amount that
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  Speaker 3: the price is going to change in response to a
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  Speaker 3: change in interest rates. So the nice thing is today
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  Speaker 3: almost any bond or bond fund will typically have that
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  Speaker 3: duration number published. So if the duration for examples five,
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  Speaker 3: if interest rates go up by one percent, that bond
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  Speaker 3: will drop in value by five percent. So it's a
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  Speaker 3: pretty easy relationship to think about. I think where it
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  Speaker 3: gets tricky is that that's just an average for the
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  Speaker 3: bond or for the bond portfolio. But there's also durations
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  Speaker 3: or the interest rate risk at different points on the
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  Speaker 3: yield curve. So like two year, we call those key
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  Speaker 3: rate durations, so you can think of how much am
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  Speaker 3: I exposed to two year point, the five year point,
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  Speaker 3: ten year point, twenty and thirty. And then we also
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  Speaker 3: have something called credit spread duration. How much does the
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  Speaker 3: bond's price change in response to changes in credit spread
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  Speaker 3: or the additional yield over treasuries. So I think when
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  Speaker 3: investors think through interest rate risk and how much risk
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  Speaker 3: they want to take, duration is a helpful measure for
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  Speaker 3: at least quantifying the loss that they could have from
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  Speaker 3: changes in rates.
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  Speaker 2: So let's look at some real life examples. The FED
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  Speaker 2: began raising rates in March twenty twenty two. About eighteen
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  Speaker 2: months later, they pretty much finished and we were over
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  Speaker 2: five hundred points basis points higher then we began. How
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  Speaker 2: did that impact bonds, both short and long duration.
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  Speaker 3: We actually had an in twenty two, one of the
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  Speaker 3: worst years in terms of bond performance in decades. The
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  Speaker 3: AG or the aggregate index, which is the broad measure
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  Speaker 3: of the tax wile bond market, was down about thirteen percent,
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  Speaker 3: and that has an intermediate duration, our duration of between
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  Speaker 3: five and six years. However, long bonds had double digit losses.
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  Speaker 3: I think twenty plus year treasuries were down over twenty percent,
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  Speaker 3: and I think that was really hurtful for a lot
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  Speaker 3: of investors who had moved into bonds just coming off
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  Speaker 3: of the zero interest rate policy that the FED adopted
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  Speaker 3: after COVID.
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  Speaker 2: And if memory serves me, I think twenty twenty two
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  Speaker 2: was the first year since like nineteen eighty one where
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  Speaker 2: both stocks and bonds were down double digit very unusual,
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  Speaker 2: you know, twice a century sort of thing.
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  Speaker 3: That's right, and it really comes back to, you know,
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  Speaker 3: why we're interest rates going up whe it's stocks under
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  Speaker 3: perform it and it goes back to the inflationary environment
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  Speaker 3: post COVID inflation came back into the system and the
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  Speaker 3: FED needed to do needed to tighten interest rates in
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  Speaker 3: order to stop inflation and get the economy back on track.
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  Speaker 3: And so you know, we had investors reacting to that,
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  Speaker 3: and that's why we saw a year where both asset
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  Speaker 3: classes were down.
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  Speaker 2: So prior to the initiation of that rate hiking cycle
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  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two, it felt like, at least for
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  Speaker 2: most of my adult life, going back to Paul Volker
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  Speaker 2: as Chairman of the FED in the early eighties, interest
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  Speaker 2: rates pretty much did nothing but go down. It felt like, hey,
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  Speaker 2: for forty years we had nothing but on average lower rates.
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  Speaker 2: Is that an exaggeration or is that pretty much what
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  Speaker 2: took place?
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  Speaker 3: No, no barrier spot on we did. We have seen
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  Speaker 3: interest rates fall, and I think it's for a few
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  Speaker 3: different reasons. I think the central bank got better at
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  Speaker 3: managing inflation, so if inflation is lower than the absolute
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  Speaker 3: level of rates are lower. We saw globalization where things
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  Speaker 3: became cheaper, more efficient, And we also have an aging population.
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  Speaker 3: In various studies we've seen that as economies age, interest
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  Speaker 3: rates tend to be lower. Our biggest consumption behavior changes.
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  Speaker 3: So we had all of those tailwinds kind of pulling
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  Speaker 3: interest rates down over the years.
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  Speaker 2: So that's forty years as far as you know. Is
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  Speaker 2: that the longest bond bull market in history, or at
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  Speaker 2: least in US history. I don't know what happened in
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  Speaker 2: Japan a thousand years ago, but yeah, I.
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  Speaker 3: Think in modern he we could say modern history. I
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  Speaker 3: think that is a fair statement.
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  Speaker 2: Right, and probably unlikely to ever be matched again in
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  Speaker 2: our lifetime or perhaps our kids and grandkids. So let's
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  Speaker 2: talk about what started a couple of years ago. The
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  Speaker 2: yield curve inverted. How does that impact bond investors? If
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  Speaker 2: you're getting paid the same for long duration as you
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  Speaker 2: are for short duration, why would you want to hold
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  Speaker 2: long duration paper?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we've seen these inverted yield curves. They typically happen
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  Speaker 3: before recessions, and they typically happen when the market expects
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  Speaker 3: short term rates to come down following a period of
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  Speaker 3: rates being risen higher. So we're at the point where
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  Speaker 3: the yield curve is still inverted, and the response has
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  Speaker 3: been pretty amazing by investors. They've all moved into ultrashort
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  Speaker 3: duration bonds, money market funds, bank deposits, or at all
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  Speaker 3: time highs In fact, even in August with a lot
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  Speaker 3: of the market volatility, we just observed we saw very
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  Speaker 3: strong flows coming into money market funds. So people are
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  Speaker 3: literally sitting in cash. And then we have some data
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  Speaker 3: on the average financial advisor's portfolio is about seven percent
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  Speaker 3: in cash or ultra short term bonds, which is down
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  Speaker 3: from over ten to fifteen percent, So now they're sitting
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  Speaker 3: at seven. So we're still seeing a lot of even
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  Speaker 3: professional investors are keeping their keeping things in cash in
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  Speaker 3: response to this inverted yield curve.
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  Speaker 2: So let's take a closer look at that. For a
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  Speaker 2: long time, investors or cash holders were getting practically nothing
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  Speaker 2: for a decade or so, but after the FED brought
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  Speaker 2: rates up to five and a quarter, you could get
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  Speaker 2: five percent and change in a fairly risk free money market.
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  Speaker 2: What sort of competition does that create for longer duration
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  Speaker 2: bonds and our money markets truly considered liquid cash, how
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  Speaker 2: do you categorize them?
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  Speaker 3: I'll take the money market fund question first, So we
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  Speaker 3: do see money market funds are considered cash equivalents. You
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  Speaker 3: can typically get your money back within a day, just
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  Speaker 3: depending on the cutoff cycle you with the provider. So
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  Speaker 3: we see a lot of people sitting in those cash
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  Speaker 3: and ultra short term investments because they are liquid and
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  Speaker 3: they are yielding a lot. However, we're seeing more people
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  Speaker 3: wanting to add some duration. So if I can get
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  Speaker 3: five percent today, that's great. But if the Fed starts
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  Speaker 3: cutting in September December really moves that overnight rate back
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  Speaker 3: down into that three percent range, which is what we
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  Speaker 3: think it will do over the long term, those five
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  Speaker 3: percent yields are going to disappear on you. So we
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  Speaker 3: are seeing investors building bond ladders, adding intermediate duration because
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  Speaker 3: when that yield curve does start to reshape more, normally,
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  Speaker 3: where you get the most bang for your buck is
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  Speaker 3: in the belly of the curve, that three to seven
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  Speaker 3: year maturity. So not only can you lock in four
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  Speaker 3: or five percent yields there, but then you can get
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  Speaker 3: some price appreciation when interest rates begin to come down.
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  Speaker 3: So that's really what we're seeing investors doing right now
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  Speaker 3: is moving out the curve a bit in response to
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  Speaker 3: the following rate environment that's coming.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm glad you brought that up. We're recording this
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  Speaker 2: right after the Labor Day holiday weekend in twenty twenty four.
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  Speaker 2: Everybody has pretty much agreed Drome Palace come out and
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  Speaker 2: said it, Hey, we're going to begin cutting rates. The
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  Speaker 2: long wait is over. And you mentioned fifteen was it?
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  Speaker 2: Fifteen trillion went down to seven trillion in money markets?
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  Speaker 2: Is the assumption that a lot of this is flowing
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  Speaker 2: into intermediate or longer dated bonds in anticipation of the
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  Speaker 2: FED cutting wor is going on with all that cash
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  Speaker 2: moving around.
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  Speaker 3: We absolutely have seen a lot of people are still
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  Speaker 3: staying put. So we don't see people moving until they
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  Speaker 3: need to, until they actually see the rates drop on
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  Speaker 3: some of their money fund money market funds. But we
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  Speaker 3: are seeing some money coming into bondy tfs, both index
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  Speaker 3: funds and active funds. We're seeing more people building out
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  Speaker 3: bond ladders, so through term maturity ETFs such as our ivonds,
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  Speaker 3: So we are seeing some of the money move. We're
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  Speaker 3: actually looking up north to Canada. Canada's gone through a
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  Speaker 3: few rate cuts now and we're seeing money in that
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  Speaker 3: market move back into bonds quicker than in the US
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  Speaker 3: on a percentage basis. So I think, well, we will
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  Speaker 3: see a lot of money move this fall and into
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  Speaker 3: twenty twenty five. I think when people actually notice that
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  Speaker 3: the rates are coming down in some of these cash
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  Speaker 3: like products.
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  Speaker 2: So pardon my niavitae for asking such an obvious question.
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  Speaker 2: If you wait for rates to fall to move into
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  Speaker 2: longer duration bonds, haven't you missed it? I mean, don't
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  Speaker 2: you want to extend your duration before the rate cuts begin.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, we saw rates move down appreciably in August
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  Speaker 2: following the most recent the CPI data point was very benign.
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  Speaker 2: We've seen the restatement of labor data, which says, hey,
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  Speaker 2: the labor market, while it's still healthy, it's much less
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  Speaker 2: overheated than we previously thought. It seems like the bond
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  Speaker 2: market is way ahead of both the stock market and
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  Speaker 2: the Fed. How do you look at this?
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  Speaker 3: Markets are great about getting ahead of the next cycle,
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  Speaker 3: and we have seen that. We've seen interest rates coming
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  Speaker 3: down across the curve even before the Fed has moved.
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  Speaker 3: We think, though it's not too late, you're still going
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  Speaker 3: to get There's some uncertainty about how quick the Fed
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  Speaker 3: is going to cut, how quickly the yield curve is
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  Speaker 3: going to reshape. So we're even using some of these
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  Speaker 3: days when rates go back up a bit, those are
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  Speaker 3: good entry points or better entry points to come back
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  Speaker 3: to bonds, so we don't think it's too late, and
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  Speaker 3: I think that the investors could rethink their strategy today
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  Speaker 3: to kind of get ahead of the next wave of cuts.
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  Speaker 2: So that's the perfect segue into investors who are interested
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  Speaker 2: in fixing come and yield. What should these folks be
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  Speaker 2: doing right here at the end of the summer in
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty four and heading into the fourth quarter.
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  Speaker 3: I would say, think about your cash position. What are
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  Speaker 3: you using that cash for. If it needs to be
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  Speaker 3: liquid for expenses and emergency fund, keep it there. But
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  Speaker 3: if it's part of your investment portfolio and you're just
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  Speaker 3: seeking the highest amount of income, you should think through
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  Speaker 3: what are the return to expectations over the next three, five,
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  Speaker 3: ten years and really use the opportunity to get that
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  Speaker 3: asset allocation back on track, that stock and bond mix
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  Speaker 3: and move out to some of more intermediate duration, because
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  Speaker 3: we think that's really where you're going to see the
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  Speaker 3: biggest change in interest rates and you could get the
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  Speaker 3: most both price appreciation as well as still some pretty
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  Speaker 3: compelling income.
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  Speaker 2: And our final question, how should investors be thinking about
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  Speaker 2: the risk of longer duration fixed income paper?
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  Speaker 3: So longer duration fixed in come paper does have almost
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  Speaker 3: equity like volatility. It does have a double digit of volatility.
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  Speaker 3: We do see it as a very efficient hedge against
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  Speaker 3: equity markets. So if equity markets fall, we tend to
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  Speaker 3: see that flight to quality and investors go towards those
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  Speaker 3: long duration especially treasuries. We have a treasury ETFTLT it's
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  Speaker 3: twenty plus years. It actually sell the highest amount of
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  Speaker 3: inflows of any ETF vehicle in the month of August
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  Speaker 3: because people were trying to hedge some of that equity
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  Speaker 3: market volatility. So if you have a portfolio that's very
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  Speaker 3: heavy in equities eighty ninety plus percent, you could add
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  Speaker 3: a little bit of long duration bonds and that would
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  Speaker 3: help smooth out the portfolio returns over time. So that's
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  Speaker 3: really the role that we think of with longer duration bonds.
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  Speaker 2: So to wrap up, investors who have been enjoying five
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  Speaker 2: percent yields in money market and managing very short term
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  Speaker 2: duration bond portfolios should recognize, hey, rake cuts are coming.
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  Speaker 2: Jerome Palse said they were coming. This cycle is likely
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  Speaker 2: to last more than just a cut or two. The
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  Speaker 2: bond market is already starting to move yields down, and
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  Speaker 2: if you wait too long, you're going to miss the
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  Speaker 2: opportunity to lock in long duration, higher yielding bonds as
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  Speaker 2: the cycle begins. I'm Barry Ridolts, and this is Bloomberg's
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  Speaker 2: at the money.
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  Speaker 1: Aside.
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  Speaker 3: It is