Fixed Income

Our investment philosophy sets us apart

We believe identifying and exploiting the risks and opportunities in today's fixed-income markets require truly active management, a commitment to fundamental research, and the resources to execute consistently.

Philosophy and process

We believe fixed-income opportunities are best exploited by specialists.

Our investment process is built around skilled individuals in highly specialized roles, identifying potential alpha-generating strategies in their areas of expertise.

We believe team-based active management leads to more efficient portfolios with better diversification.

Our team pursues multiple sources of alpha across a broad investment universe, seeking to take advantage of flexibility and eliminate unintended concentrations of risk.

We approach risk differently.

We seek to create opportunities through active allocation to sources of risk, not sectors.

Our process is a competitive advantage.

  • Our portfolio construction process is team-based, specialist-driven, and risk-oriented, and has been in place for over 15 years.
  • Our portfolios seek to deliver a diverse set of best ideas without the bias of an individual portfolio manager.

Risk-based framework focuses on four key areas in pursuit of alpha generation

Term structure

Value of cash flow over time


Yield curves

Level, slope, bend

Currency

Real versus nominal rates

Credit

Ability of a borrower to repay cash flow

Corporate

Investment grade and high yield

Mortgage

Residential and commercial MBS

Sovereign

Developed and emerging markets

Prepayment

Timing of receiving cash flow


Agency MBS

Collateralized mortgage obligations

IOs and POs

Callable corporate and government bonds

Liquidity

Ability to trade cash flow at the fair price

Pricing, volatility risk

Spreads not associated with fundamental loss

Fixed-income capabilities

A full range of benchmark-oriented and absolute return products

Strategy Category Inception date Benchmark
Core Global Fixed Income Multi-Sector Benchmark-oriented August 31, 1993 Bloomberg Global Aggregate Bond Index
Core Plus Fixed Income Multi-Sector Benchmark-oriented June 30, 1991 Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index
Dedicated Mortgage Securitized Product Strategies July 31, 2009 ICE BofA U.S. Dollar 1-month Constant Maturity Index
European High Yield Single Sector Benchmark-oriented September 30, 1999 ICE BofA European Currency Developed Markets HY Constrained Index
Fixed Income Global Alpha Absolute Return Fixed Income August 31, 2008 ICE BofA U.S. Dollar 1-month Constant Maturity Index
Fixed Income Global Alpha Plus Absolute Return Fixed Income October 31, 1988 ICE BofA U.S. Treasury Bill Index
Global High Yield Single Sector Benchmark-oriented March 31, 2003 ICE BofA Global HY IG Country Const 100% USD Hgd Index
Investment Grade Corporate Credit Single Sector Benchmark-oriented September 30, 2009 Bloomberg U.S. Corporate Bond Index
U.S. Convertible Securities Single Sector Benchmark-oriented July 31, 1993 ICE BofA U.S. Convertible Index
U.S. High Yield Single Sector Benchmark-oriented July 31, 1993 JPMorgan Developed High Yield Index
Ultra Short Duration Income Unconstrained Fixed Income November 30, 2011 ICE BofA U.S. Treasury Bill Index

Browse our Perspectives

Fed's quantitative tightening (QT) will face constraints

Fed's quantitative tightening (QT) will face constraints

The Fed is pursuing QT while being careful to avoid market disruption. Compare scenarios for QT and markets in Putnam's Macro Report.

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The debt ceiling is raised, but the debt problem persists

The debt ceiling is raised, but the debt problem persists

As inflation sticks around, it is important to think about how it is related to high government debt.

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Contracting money supply poses risk to bonds

Contracting money supply poses risk to bonds

A contracting money supply paired with the Fed's quantitative tightening is adding bank sector stress on Treasury and MBS markets.

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