Debt markets still wary of hike in interest rates

Two competing factors overshadow the future direction of the corporate and government debt markets, the likelihood of interest rate rises and the continuing underperformance of equities. Denis Gould, a fund manager for Axa Investment Managers UK, says: 'It is very much range trading and there is a two-way pull. If stock markets affect confidence and world economies change, both could pull in the same direction.' On one side, he says, most economies, including the UK, US and Europe, are doing well, which is likely to lead to rates needing to be increased. On the other, stock markets ...