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Fixed income’s year-end de-risk supports CLO allocations

As year-end approaches, investors tend to rotate out of riskier assets to lock in gains by strategically reducing portfolio risk. One effective approach for fixed income exposures is to shift towards the front end of the bond curve to lower portfolio volatility. In Europe, Collateralised Loan Obligations (CLOs) may offer an opportunity to reduce risk — and enhance yield.

5 min read
Senior Fixed Income ETF Strategist

The short end: risk reduction at year end

With year-end approaching there is a natural tendency for investors to rotate out of riskier assets and lock in gains, particularly as thinner markets heighten disruption potential. For bond investors this usually means improving portfolio quality by limiting exposure to non-investment grade issuers — and shortening duration.

Year-to-date flows into fixed income ETFs have been dominated by the short-to-intermediate parts of the European curve, with 82% of allocations to maturities of ten years or less.1 This trend suggests that investors are already favouring the short end — but the rationale remains strong.

  • Central banks continue to cut rates: a Federal Reserve (Fed) easing is expected this month, and the UK market is nearly fully-priced for a Bank of England (BoE) cut before year-end. Ongoing policy easing in both countries should support the front end of the curve, and keep yields trending lower.
  • Traditionally defensive: short maturity bonds typically have low duration, which makes them less sensitive to interest rate moves, helping to reduce volatility. This has created a seasonal pattern to flows. For example, Bloomberg US Corporate Bonds 1-5 Years Index has posted positive returns in December in all but two of the last 10 years.
  • Attractive rolldown: rolldown is strongest in the 4-5 year area of the BBB-rated Euro corporate curve. Rolldown turns positive on the USD curve after the first couple of years and increases out to around the 7-year point (see Figure 1).
  • Risks remain at the long end: despite curve steepening, long-dated bonds remain exposed to risks. Governments have not pursued meaningful fiscal consolidation and long-duration asset demand has declined. Pension funds have largely hedged their long-dated liabilities and pension reforms in the Netherlands are expected to further reduce duration demand.

CLOs are an alternative for Euro investors

US and UK central banks look likely to cut rates — but Europe is at a different stage of the policy cycle. Growth is near trend, and inflation only modestly above target, so the European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to keep rates on hold for some time. As a result, the bulk of fixed income returns will come from yield or spread compression which are expected to be limited.

Investing in short duration assets still makes sense to reduce portfolio volatility but it entails giving up yield, given the curve’s current upward slope.

Collateralised Loan Obligations (CLOs) offer a solution for investors looking to potentially reduce risk as year-end approaches:

  • Short duration: CLOs are a floating exposure so they have a short interest-rate duration (0.25 years). Even during periods of stress, such as the Liberation Day disruption, losses in the J.P. Morgan Euro CLO AAA Index were contained to 46 basis points (bps), compared to over 2.5% for European high yield.1
  • Enhanced yield: the yield to worst on the J.P. Morgan Euro CLO AAA Index is around 3.25% — over 110bps above 3-month Euribor (2.06%) and more than 130bps above the Euro Short-Term Rate (ESTR) of 1.925%. This compares favourably with investment grade credit of similar duration, such as the Bloomberg EUR Corporate 0-3 Year Index.2
  • Improved credit quality: An AAA-rated CLO tranche is rated three-to-four notches above a standard investment grade index, which should reduce risks in a defensive year-end environment. Spreads on lower-rated tranches are more likely to blow-out aggressively than their higher-quality counterparts.

CLOs are a compelling option for de-risking portfolios. As Figure 2 shows, the J.P. Morgan Euro CLO AAA Index has delivered substantially higher returns (+123bps) than the Bloomberg EUR Corporate 0-3 Year Index over the past five years, albeit with slightly higher annualised volatility (+37bps). It is also worth noting the consistency of returns: since ECB rates peaked in September 2023, the J.P. Morgan Euro CLO AAA Index has returned negative monthly returns only three times, compared to six for the Bloomberg EUR Corporate 0-3 Year Index.

How to access CLO exposure

Understanding collateralised loan obligations (CLOs)

Understanding collateralised loan obligations (CLOs)

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