When credit gets ahead of equity
Corporate bonds were regarded as lagging followers of equity markets. But Trace data shows that, in many cases, debt anticipates stock moves

Fine-tuning the momentum signal
Daniel Haesen, Patrick Houweling and Jeroen van Zundert describe an approach that slashes volatility and improves returns in momentum strategies for corporate bonds

Her Majesty’s secret CLO desk
They don’t know it, but through their ownership of nationalised RBS, UK taxpayers may hold the world’s biggest portfolio of CLO paper. Sayed Kadiri analyses RBS’s Stamford-based CLO business

Spotlight on shipping: leaving the storms behind
Some large container shipping lines are returning to profitability. But many tanker credits are still in danger of being lost at sea

Making a case for pre-funded bonds
They may not be commonly issued but collateralised coupon bonds should be more attractive to investors than zero coupon bonds

Spotlight on asset-based lending: a tale of uncomfortable bedfellows
When senior lenders share security with asset-based lenders they fret about the increased risk of default and lower recoveries

Oh Brothers, where art thou?
Lehman Brothers’ collapse scattered one of the best regarded structured credit teams in the business around the investment banks and hedge funds of the world

Reaching for yield distorts markets
It is well understood that many investment losses are caused by investors chasing yield. But the problem is more widespread than most realise

European CLOs take on the wall
Many European CLOs will exit their reinvestment periods within a year and will be vulnerable to rising default rates. Peter Melichar looks at the likelihood of this leading to tranche losses

All your CDS models are wrong
It is a common belief that it is simple to extract implied default probabilities from CDS spreads. But, argues Robert Jarrow, the conventional methods are drastically flawed

Mined in Paris. Forged in London
In Paris, an exclusive university has built a web of well educated and well connected credit traders, sales people and structurers who now circle the financial world

Call protection: investors lock up their loans
As bond investors have moved into the loan market, borrowers have had to offer them more bond-like features. But will call protection be eroded as demand for loans increases?

CLOs that delivered
Sayed Kadiri hunts among the growing number of called CLOs to find the deals that have delivered the highest final returns for equity investors – and finds one with a 150% return

Managers leave old CLOs high and dry
What happens to CLOs when they leave their reinvestment period? Data from CLO-i shows the range of outcomes for senior debt investors

M&A brings big moves in CLO top 10
After two years of manager mergers and acquisitions Carlyle and Apollo have leapt up our ranking of CLO managers – but most firms have seen their assets fall

Taking Merton to the extremes
The most widely used credit risk model fails in a financial crisis. David Allen, Akhmad Kramadibrata, Robert Powell and Abhay Kumar Singh show how it can be improved

Preserving and conserving
Stable revenues, good liquidity and manageable leverage have kept yields in the consumer packaging sector steady in the long term

Life in plastic: not so fantastic
The future may be bright for companies that process payments electronically – but for now consumers are being too careful with their credit cards

Credit spotlight: Gaming becomes a better bet
With gambling revenue rising strongly in Las Vegas and, especially in Macau, credit investors are turning to gaming even as yields tighten

Taking account of ratings migrations
Vivien Brunel describes a way to model credit prices without having to rely on narrow historical data about ratings, and looks at its use in a calculation of incremental risk charge

Credit spotlight: Please enjoy alcohol responsibly
Drinks companies are highly profitable, so many debt investors have been tempted to hit the booze even though spreads are tight and M&A risk is significant

Re-thinking recovery
Loss-given-default presents an even bigger modelling challenge than default probability. A re-sampling casts light on the best approach

Credit spotlight: Still loving it
Leverage is high but the fast food sector is doing well even as consumer spending falls – so it’s no surprise that credit investors are tucking into large portions

Credit spotlight - Lean, mean driving machines
After paring down fleets and cutting costs in 2008, car rental companies have recently posted strong earnings and most could now make profits even in a recession