The Federal Reserve’s plan to end quantitative easing, in part to prevent financial bubbles, is in fact driving investors into riskier corners of the debt markets.
While the safest bonds have sold off hardest since Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman, set a timetable for tapering its monetary stimulus, the best-performing fixed-income assets have been the lowest-rated junk bonds.
Money has also poured into loans in the past three months, with the result that many borrowers no longer have to provide customary investor protections.
“Investors are so afraid of rising rates that they are trading off rates risk by taking on more credit risk,” said Ashish Shah, head of global credit at asset management group AllianceBernstein.
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