Developed Market (DM) government bond yield curves flattened over the month of Oct. The market will be watching the conclusion of the 2-day FOMC meeting (currently in progress), indications of asset purchase tapering, inflation expectations and forward trajectory of monetary tightening.
Asia ex-Japan USD credit underperformed against the US. China property was mainly responsible for the underperformance of the China country of risk subindex, and as result of its weight, contributed to the underperformance of the Asia ex-Japan regional benchmark.
Asian USD primary markets printed a smaller deal volume in Oct as activity winds-down towards year-end. We saw mainly very high credit quality IG issuers in the market.
Our read of the market continues to be one of risk-aversion. Conservative credit strategies (higher credit quality and lower duration risk) would stand to benefit.
