Investors shouldn’t write off high-yield fixed-income assets and related junk bond exchange traded funds just yet as an expanding economy will help support this riskier segment of the debt market.
“The reality is this economic expansion will likely continue for several more years, so with that as a backdrop we don’t see fundamentally the high-yield market at risk right now,” Mark Kiesel, PIMCO’s chief investment officer for global credit, said on CNBC.
While PIMCO does not anticipate a crisis in junk bonds anytime soon, Kiesel said the company is more conservative and is avoiding lower-quality, high-yield bonds.
“Within the high-yield markets, we are favoring those rising stars, those companies who are fundamentally improving,” Kiesel added. “So yes, you want to be conservative in the credit markets today but there is significant ways to add value through active management.”
For broad speculative-grade bond exposure, investors can take a look at the PIMCO 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond Index (NYSEArca: HYS), which comes with a 4.30% 30-day SEC yield. HYS includes a small 7.0% tilt toward lower investment-grade quality BBB, along with speculative grade BBB 31.9% and B 34.4%. [Junk Bond ETF Opportunities After a Major Sell-Off]