Monthly report
Policy uncertainty drives mini flight to quality
Download the latest reports
Overview
Some confusion about tariff policy, geopolitical uncertainty and weaker sentiment surveys drove a mini flight to quality in February, benefitting Treasuries and gold. Credit held up well, however, and still managed small positive returns on the month. China and EM underperformed but remain strongest performers on 3M and 12M.
Key highlights:
- Macro and policy backdrop – Policy uncertainty dents confidence and risk appetite
- Yields, curves and spreads – Steepening stalls on flight to quality, US spreads tightened
- IG credit and MBS – IG credit survived US equity correction largely unscathed
- High yield credit analysis – HY also largely unaffected by dip in risk appetite
- SI sovereign bond analysis – Green bond universe is heavily underweight USD
- Performance – Treasuries and G7 government bonds rally on mini-flight to quality
Please note the Europe edition combines the previously published UK and Eurozone versions of Fixed Income Insights.
These reports provide actionable insights on global fixed income markets. They cover shifts in global yield curve and credit spreads, across sovereign, inflation-linked and corporate indices, and FX-adjusted return performance using proprietary month-end data from our global fixed income indices.
For specialist content on a range of investment topics, including macroeconomic analysis and how it affects market performance and multi-asset analysis, viewed through our indices and data, explore our Global Investment Research hub.
