A surprising shortage in housing
Home construction is falling behind the pace of new household formation, creating an imbalance between housing supply and demand.
Tag: Putnam Income Fund
Disaggregating the Aggregate Bond Index
The importance of the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index in the investment world might outweigh the attractiveness of its risk and reward profile.
Market outlook remains positive
Despite the end of QE3 and other sources of risk, Putnam’s market outlook sees attractive potential in stocks and in our diverse fixed-income strategies.
Dollars tied to bond indexes face risk
2013 marked a watershed moment for index versus non-index sectors in fixed income. We see significant risk in the composition of the index.
Research uncovers uneven credit opportunities
Investors have been somewhat more cautious on the corporate-debt sector lately, with spreads — which measure the yield advantage versus Treasuries — tight by historical standards. To be sure, the financial health of corporations in the investment-grade space continues to be quite strong. However, in a slow-growth macroeconomic environment, we believe it may prove challenging
Why the ratings don’t always reflect the risk
One of the key strategies that several Putnam fixed-income funds have successfully employed is the use of non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). As the name would imply, these securities are backed by residential mortgages and have been securitized not by a government agency — such as Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac — but by a