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• High Yield: Strong Tailwinds, But It May be a Bumpy Ride

  High yield has a number of supportive tailwinds at its back—from a more manageable default picture and less exposure to potentially rising rates to investors’ continued demand for yield. But uncertainties remain, suggesting a potentially bumpy path to recovery.

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• Three Reasons Loans May Be Poised for Strong Performance

  It’s not as simple as ‘when rates rise buy loans; when rates fall buy bonds.’ Indeed, a combination of several factors has set the stage for loans to potentially deliver attractive total returns going forward.

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• High Yield: Bridging the Gap to a Post-COVID World

  What lies ahead for high yield markets? Head of Global Public Fixed Income, Martin Horne weighs in on what the bifurcated asset price recovery, record issuance levels and falling default expectations imply for high yield markets in the months ahead.

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• High Yield: Halfway There?

  The shock was the story in the first quarter, the stimulus was the story in the second—but we’re decidedly not yet in the post-COVID era, and the path to economic recovery remains unclear. What does that mean for high yield?

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• The Evolving Opportunity in Distressed Debt

  As the pandemic recedes, some companies may have a harder time managing higher debt levels than others—and as weaker issuers undergo restructurings or other stressed situations, there may be opportunities for investors to deploy more capital into distressed debt strategies.

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• High Yield: Liquidity Abounds, But What Lies Ahead?

  Ample liquidity from central banks has driven a significant recovery across markets, including high yield. But with much uncertainty still ahead, we see benefits to moving up the capital structure and considering secured assets.

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• High Yield: The Power of Flexibility in Volatile Times

  The journey back to normalcy will likely be punctuated with stops and starts. But opportunities will emerge—and being in a position to capture the upside is key.

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• ESG: The Intent Beyond the Income

  ESG is playing an increasingly meaningful role in fixed income investing. At Barings, we formally integrate ESG across our corporate credit asset classes—but the way we apply our analysis is necessarily different due to the nuances of each market.

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• ESG in Fixed Income: Progress Over Perfection

  Fixed income investors have been slower to adopt environmental, social and governance factors, but change is afoot. Barings’ experts explain how fixed income managers can—and are—driving tangible change among corporate debt issuers—and why investors need to pay attention.

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• Four Benefits of Senior Secured Bonds in an Uncertain Environment

  Times of volatility can also yield opportunity if navigated carefully—and in the event of widespread defaults, senior secured bonds can offer some particularly compelling benefits.

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• Taking the Bite Out of High Yield’s Tail Risk

  A new buyer has arrived on the scene of U.S. high yield markets, and it happens to be the biggest buyer of them all: the U.S. Federal Reserve.

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• High Yield: Finding Value in a Landscape Rife with Risk

  Concerns surrounding COVID-19, lower oil prices and a global recession have weighed heavily on markets—including global high yield bonds and leveraged loans. While value opportunities are emerging, the landscape is punctuated with risks that must be carefully navigated.

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• High Yield: Navigating COVID-19

  Barings’ Martin Horne puts the recent volatility in high yield markets into context and describes how the Barings team is both managing risks and finding value opportunities through the crisis.

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• Distressed Debt: Despite Challenges, Opportunities Persist

  Recent market and economic volatility may be the trigger that distressed debt investors have been waiting for, but capitalizing on opportunities will require a different playbook than those of past cycles.

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• Distressed Debt: Capturing Late-Cycle Value

  Barings’ Stuart Mathieson and Bryan High discuss how recent macro events and credit market dynamics are impacting the outlook for distressed debt.

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• Secured Bonds: Added Protection in the Face of Uncertainty

  With a number of macro risks on the horizon, some investors have (perhaps rightfully) adopted a more cautious outlook when it comes to allocations to risk assets. In some cases, this has meant taking a closer look at senior secured bonds.

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• Sentiment Shift Fuels Lower-Rated Rally

  Uncovering relative value across high yield in 2020 may require looking in less obvious places.

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• CLOs: Triple C's and Market Unease

  Taryn Leonard and Melissa Ricco, Co-Heads of Barings’ Structured Credit Investment Team, discuss the recent loan market weakness, and how technical pressures are creating value opportunities in the CLO market.

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• High Yield: A Time to be Nimble

  In this Q&A, Martin Horne, Head of Global Public Fixed Income, discusses the state of high yield markets amid a late-cycle environment, and why it’s critical to be nimble and selective in order to capture points of relative value.

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• High Yield: Poised to Capture Relative Value

  Despite mounting uncertainty in the broader markets, high yield delivered broadly positive returns in Q3. As we continue to move through the late stages of a prolonged cycle, credit selection will be critical.

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• High Yield: Rates, Recessions and Relative Value

  While there is no shortage of risks to consider in today’s high yield markets—from ESG to the end of the credit cycle—Barings’ Martin Horne describes how taking a contrarian approach can help investors uncover pockets of value.

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• Are High Yield Investors Being Compensated for Risks?

  In the context of today’s fundamental backdrop and default outlook, spread levels suggest investors are being fairly compensated, relative to other points in the cycle, for the amount of risk they are taking.

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• Distressed Debt: Seeking Opportunity in Choppy Waters

  Stuart Mathieson, Head of Barings’ Global Special Situations group, and Bryan High, Co-Portfolio Manager of the strategy, discuss how the macro environment is impacting their outlook, and where they're seeing distressed debt opportunities today.

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• U.S. Loans: Challenged Market or Veiled Opportunity?

  With loan and bond yields currently comparable, we believe—in a somewhat contrarian view to the market—there is a good argument for investing in loans, particularly in the U.S., where the economy appears to be marginally stronger than in Europe.

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• Distressed Debt: How This Cycle May Be Different

  Barings’ Stuart Mathieson and Bryan High discuss the outlook and competitive landscape for distressed debt and consider the implications of the significant growth in private credit and European high yield since the last cycle.

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• Fixed Income: Upending the Conventional Approach

  Michael Freno, Head of Global Markets, shares his view on where value can still be found in fixed income, despite the uncertain current environment—and why investors may need to look beyond traditional indexes in high yield, investment grade and emerging markets debt.

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• High Yield: Strong Performance, But Uncertainty Remains

  On the heels of strong Q2 performance, global high yield bonds and loans continue to provide attractive risk-adjusted return opportunities for investors—particularly those with the flexibility to look beyond the traditional indexes.

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• Fixed Income: Looking Beyond the Index for Late-Cycle Value

  Head of Global Markets, Mike Freno, sheds light on how the Barings’ teams are finding value outside of traditional indexes across high yield, investment grade credit and emerging markets debt.

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• Four Reasons Security Matters Right Now

  Amid the late stages of an elongated credit cycle, Martin Horne, Barings’ Head of Global High Yield, discusses four reasons why global senior secured bonds—a lesser known and perhaps underappreciated subset of high yield—could be an attractive option in the event of defaults.

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• Where the Dry Powder Goes Next

  Stuart Mathieson and Bryan High, portfolio managers for the Global Special Situations strategy, discuss the outlook for distressed debt investing—and explain how they’re finding opportunities throughout the cycle.

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• High Yield: Identifying Value Amid Shifting Sentiment

  Despite the sharp turns in high yield markets over the past two quarters, companies ticked along without flinching—posting strong earnings over the course. David Mihalick, Barings’ Head of U.S. High Yield Investments, explains why.

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• High Yield Bonds & Loans: Where to Next?

  High yield markets roared back in the first quarter. Can market fundamentals and technicals support continued strength? And how should investors factor in risks ranging from possible recession, to ratings downgrades, to liquidity concerns? Barings’ David Mihalick weighs in.

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• High Yield: A Swift Rebound

  High yield bonds and loans posted a strong Q1 following the technically induced Q4 sell-off. With defaults still near historical lows, current spreads provide attractive risk-adjusted return potential.

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• The Potential Benefits of Global Senior Secured Loans

  In the current environment, senior secured loans are gaining traction for their potential to offer a blend of attractive yield and protection against both credit and interest rate risk.

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• An Underappreciated Subset of High Yield

  For investors willing to surrender a nominal amount of yield in favor of greater protection given a default, global senior secured bonds can be an attractive option in a recessionary environment.

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• High Yield: Five Takeaways for the Months Ahead

  From trade wars and Brexit to central bank posturing and recessions, there is no shortage of risks facing today’s markets. As we consider high yield in the context of this turbulent environment, there are five takeaways we think are worth considering in the months ahead.

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• Climbing High Yield’s Wall of Worry

  In this Q&A, Barings’ Head of Global High Yield, Martin Horne, weighs in on some of the major risks facing the high yield markets today and discusses where his team is seeing opportunities.

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• Climbing High Yield’s Wall of Worry

  The global high yield markets face a number of risks. Yet, these markets have continued to scale such a ‘wall of worry’ for the last decade. Should we expect more of the same, or are we nearing a turning point in the cycle? Barings’ Martin Horne weighs in.

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• Navigating Risks in Today’s High Yield Markets

  In this Q&A, Barings’ Head of Global High Yield, Martin Horne, discusses how the Barings team is navigating some of the major risks—from a trade war and Brexit negotiations to rising rates and a maturing credit cycle—present in the markets today.

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• A Global Approach to High Yield Investing

  In the Conversations piece, Barings’ Sean Feeley and Chris Sawyer discuss the potential benefits of a global approach to high yield.

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• Multi Credit Investing: Embracing the High Yield of Today

  Over the past decade, the growth and expansion of the global high yield markets have transformed the way investors view the asset class. In this article, we discuss the potential benefits of considering a multi credit, “through-the-cycle” approach, which can give investors’ high yield allocation more flexibility, potentially improving their ability to capitalize on opportunities across the global high yield markets as they materialize throughout the credit cycle.

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• Investing Strategically in High Yield

  Barings’ Martin Horne and David Mihalick discuss the benefits of taking a long-term, multi-credit approach to investing in global high yield bond and loan markets.

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• VIDEO: High Yield Multi Credit Investing

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• Multi Credit Investing: A Through-The-Cycle Approach to High Yield

  Read about how a multi credit approach to high yield can benefit investors in this Q&A with Barings’ heads of U.S. and European high yield investments.

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• VIDEO: How is this cycle different?

  Head of European High Yield, Martin Horne weighs in on how this credit cycle has differed from those in the past and what that means for investors.

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• VIDEO: European High Yield Opportunities

  European High Yield Bond Portfolio Manager, Craig Abouchar discusses why the Barings team see value in the single-B market.

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