Destra Insights

October is often a tough month for risk assets. Some of the stock market’s biggest sell offs in history have occurred in this first full month of fall in the northern hemisphere. Credit instruments often trade in sympathy with equities, if not in lock step occasionally. This October, bond prices generally fell like autumn leaves, as yields pushed up for a host of reasons.

September has historically been the cruelest month for stocks (on average) going back decades. And credit often plays sympathy to the devil of equities, especially on the downside. But this September saw stocks and credits soar in a devil may care, rally.

In the old classic 60/40 model, stocks make up the majority of the allocation. Through the end of August, that part of the balanced model has performed brilliantly, up an astounding almost 20% YTD (S&P 500 19.53%).

Wow, July was hot. Temperatures were up all across the US but the real heat was in the bond markets, were yields wanted to come down, investors were certain Powell promised them a September cut, and nothing could dissuade the bond bulls of summer from pushing prices higher.

Here at the halfway point of 2024, the light of investment heaven shines brightly from the mountain top, even as the heat of summer drips sweat off the brow of those of us laboring to get our portfolio rocks to the top.

Memorial Day is behind us now and it is time for the Summer Blockbusters. So with a nod to great movie quotes of the past, here is your May Credit Events newsletter!

April saw the Destra Credit Strategies Indicator (“CSI”) deliver an overall negative result of -0.86% on average with 12 of 18 sub-strategies declining on a total return basis for the month. This was a far cry from March, when the CSI was up a positive +1.33% on average and 17 of 18 categories were green!

Special situations credit investing is a sophisticated institutional strategy focusing on unique credit opportunities in companies facing stress, distress, restructuring, bankruptcy, or other dislocations.

Through the first two months of 2024, Intermediate Treasuries are off some 85bps on return and the Bloomberg US Agg index is off even more, at -1.68%. These two hallmark benchmarks represent the biggest portions of the bond investing landscape and if you only used these as a gauge you might say that fixed income investing was off to another poor year.

As we navigate the complexities of the financial landscape in 2024, the credit markets have presented us with a fascinating start, full of unexpected twists and turns. The Destra Credit Strategies Indicator has been at the forefront, meticulously tracking the pulse of 18 diverse sub-strategies in credit investing.