FICC Focus

SPX correlation is historically low, while the average single-stock volatility is elevated amid AI momentum. In this edition of the All Options Considered podcast, BI's Chief Global Derivatives Strategist Tanvir Sandhu is joined by Maxwell Grinacoff, Head of US Equity Derivatives Research at UBS. They discuss the dynamics of equity volatility, growth of derivative-based ETFs, shift in product composition and option flow as a source of market dislocations.

The quantity of reserves is now determined by the amount necessary to run the payment system, says Darrell Duffie, a professor at Stanford University. On the Macro Matters podcast, Duffie joins hosts Ira Jersey, Bloomberg Intelligence’s chief US rates strategist, and Will Hoffman, BI’s US and Canada rates strategist, to discuss the Federal Reserve’s policy implementation framework. They cover ongoing shifts in balance-sheet policy and a return to net Treasury purchases, changes to the US banking and payments systems and what those mean for the size of the Fed’s balance sheet. They also touch on the nuanced challenges posed by stigma around the Fed’s lending facilities.

The Macro Matters podcast is part of BI’s FICC Focus series.

“Time can be a good thing. Time can be a very bad thing…I think the whole market moves a bit slower now when there are problems in terms of how those problems get dealt with,” says Axar Capital founder & CEO Andrew Axelrod when discussing the evolution in markets away from mark-to-market investment vehicles. Axelrod joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s Noel Hebert on the latest episode of Credit Crunch to talk about how he sees the current credit backdrop, whether the 4Q credit flare-ups are cockroach, canary or just commonplace, and the challenges to recoveries from zombie owners. 

The 2026 dollar bear view is at the mercy of confirmed Fed dovishness, with the different stages of respective G10 monetary policy cycles likely to shape currency performances this year. If this is your central working assumption, then the case for dollar-yen downside becomes more compelling again, as does our Australian dollar bullish bias. In this episode of FX Moment, Bloomberg Intelligence Chief FX Strategist Audrey Childe-Freeman and Brown Brothers Harriman Global Head of Markets Strategy Elias Haddad discuss their currency views for 2026, focusing on the key drivers and strongest G10 FX convictions. Haddad confirms a dollar-yen bearish case, while Childe-Freeman believes that the bullish Aussie view from 4Q25 can extend this year.

The Conference Board isn’t expecting a recession, but Yelena Shulyatyeva, the research group’s senior US economist, anticipates a meaningful slowdown in consumer spending. On this Macro Matters podcast, Shulyatyeva joins host Ira Jersey, BI’s chief US rates strategist, and BI senior US and Canada rates strategist Will Hoffman to discuss the outlook for the US economy and its drivers in 2026. They talk about risks to the inflation profile, including the state of pass-through inflation from tariffs, and the path for core services. They also hit on AI’s directional impact to productivity, geopolitical risks and potential shifts to Federal Reserve independence narratives. 

The Macro Matters podcast is part of BI’s FICC Focus series.

EM local government bond valuations look less appealing as we enter 2026, with cross-asset volatility poised to rise from historically low levels. Phoenix Kalen, global head of emerging market research at Société Générale, joins Damian Sassower, Bloomberg Intelligence’s chief EM fixed income strategist, to discuss her year-ahead outlook for EM local rates and foreign exchange. Kalen and Sassower discuss investor positioning as we near the end of the EM monetary-easing cycle, with sentiment starting to fade amid potential for wider growth differentials between the US and Europe.

“All alpha is excess return, not all excess return is alpha,” says NISA CEO and Head of Investment Strategies David Eichhorn when discussing the use of appropriate benchmarks to measure performance and beta masking as alpha. Eichhorn joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s Noel Hebert on the latest episode of Credit Crunch to talk about hedging liabilities and utilizing derivative overlays, targeting high information ratios and being a liquidity provider, and the evolution in liability management. The current rate backdrop and funded status for defined benefit plans, as well as leverage costs for BDCs are also discussed.

As part of Bloomberg Intelligence’s 2026 Fixed Income Markets Outlook: Opportunity Amid Policy Uncertainty event, this panel examines the outlook for junk bond yields and total returns, consumer health, the role of private credit and top sector picks. Stephen Flynn, senior telecom and media credit analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, moderates a discussion with Winnie Cisar, global head of strategy at CreditSights, John McClain, global co-head of high yield at Goldman Sachs and Meghan Robson, head of US credit strategy and desk analyst at BNP Paribas.

This special edition of the FICC Focus podcast features the recording of a Dec. 4 panel discussion exploring investment grade spreads, issuance and strategies to outperform in the year ahead. Moderated by Rob Schiffman, senior technology and internet credit analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, the conversation features Meghan Graper, global head of debt capital markets at Barclays, Amanda Lynam, head of macro credit research at BlackRock, and Krishna Memani, chief investment officer at Lafayette College. The panel gathered as part of Bloomberg Intelligence’s 2026 Fixed Income Markets Outlook: Opportunity Amid Policy Uncertainty event. 

“Ad hoc groups are decades old at this point. Co-ops are new. Since when do we have to promise to be friends? I think [co-ops] are inherently lame.” John Sobolewski, Partner and Global Chair of Latham & Watkins' Liability Management Practice, sat down with Bloomberg Intelligence’s Negisa Balluku and Philip Brendel at the Beard Group’s 2025 Distressed Investing Conference on Dec. 2. John shared his views on the LME landscape’s evolution and direction, jurisdictional considerations, and why he suspects the pervasiveness of cooperation agreements results from unhealthy lender distrust and advisers’ self-interest.