This week's panel discuss the future of corporate bonds going into 2010
We believe 2010 will be another good year for corporate credit but we do not see the double-digit returns for UK investment grade corporates being repeated.
Top five funds in IMA Strategic Bond sector all return above 4% over one year against an average of 23.1%
The asset management industry has mixed feelings about the long-term threat exchange traded funds pose to index-hugging unit trusts and Oeics
Axa Pan Euro High Yield leads way as average fund in peer group gains 5.5% over past year to 1 January
Corporate bonds posted a strong performance in 2009 (c. 15%), more than recovering the losses of 2008, and have dramatically outperformed equities over the last decade.
Prospects for the global economy remain unclear. Despite a positive response to stabilisation measures introduced by G20 governments, the challenge now is how to exit from the enormous stimulus packages while maintaining recovery
On the whole, 2009 is likely to be remembered as an extremely good year for risky assets, with equities as well as corporate bond markets posting stellar performance, albeit not without considerable volatility.
Over the last few weeks I have been spending a lot of time leafing through the details of the IMA's annual industry surveys in search of some big new trends.