Corporate bonds: performing well

While last year will be remembered as a miserable year for equity markets, bonds provided some relief as investors took shelter from volatility and earnings downgrades, particularly in the technology sectors, and parked their money in more defensive asset classes. In a year when government bond markets performed well against a background of slower global economic growth, corporate bonds tended to underperform government issues, reflecting fears of a US recession and sensitivity to equity market movements. In the UK, however, the picture was somewhat different. Sterling-denominated invest...