Housing sector an unexpected strength
Active fundamental research indicates the housing sector, along with areas of the energy and health-care industries, offer attractive opportunities for investors today.
Category: Outlook
Attractive spreads, low defaults in high-yield sector
We continue to find a number of reasons for a positive outlook on the high-yield bond sector. First, the long-term average spread in the high-yield market is close to 500 basis points, so today high-yield spreads are at above-average levels. But at the same time, the fundamental backdrop for high-yield corporate bonds continues to be
The case for high-yield bonds
We believe the sell-off in high-yield bonds actually represents an investment opportunity.
Analyzing the potential for new household formation
In today’s post-housing bubble environment, the long-awaited recovery has failed to build a solid foundation. The high unemployment rate, declines in household income, and significantly tighter credit conditions have left both existing and new home sales close to recessionary levels in the United States.
Four views on China
With its meteoric rise to become the world’s second-largest economy, China is an engine of global growth and is currently expanding much faster than developed nations still struggling to recover from the recession. Although today China is facing headwinds such as nagging inflation, Putnam sees investment opportunities in many industry sectors.
Health-care investing: What is the prognosis for emerging markets?
Over the next 10 years, some of the greatest growth in health-care spending is projected for emerging markets such as China, India, and Brazil. For many reasons, growth opportunities are abundant in developing economies, but selecting health-care stocks, particularly among the smaller-cap companies based in these regions, is not without its challenges.
New developments raise concerns about European debt
Developments in European sovereign debt markets have taken a significant turn recently, and the risk that the crisis could affect financial markets has increased.