Strong growth to help UK corporates

It is a supreme irony that just as corporate bonds are achieving both a higher profile and real critical mass on this side of the Atlantic recent returns from them have been so lacklustre This is readily explicable, given the weakness of fixed income markets in the face of accelerating growth and the uncertainty over the extent of rates rises needed to stem the tide of inflationary forces. However, a number of short-term factors have conspired to complicate the picture and obscure the longer term case Corporate bonds are sensitive to interest rate changes, although to a lesser degree than...