Best-Performing Bond Fund Prefers Risky Assets, Bucks Trend: Japan Credit
Japan ’s top-performing bond fund will invest in lower-rated corporate bonds that provide double the yield of higher-rated notes, bucking the trend of investors seeking safe havens after the U.S. debt rating downgrade.
“The latest rout isn’t enough to start selling corporate bonds altogether at all,” said Nobumasa Mizutani, the manager of Mizuho Trust Banking & Co.’s Credit Spread Strategy fund in an interview in Tokyo yesterday. “If anything, it did highlight the stability in Japan’s corporate bond market on a relative basis, so we’re shifting gears to look at A and BBBs after we profited from the beauty-queen companies with higher ratings.”
Mizutani is increasing the fund’s allocations to riskier notes following Standard & Poor’s unprecedented downgrade of U.S. credit coupled with the European sovereign debt crisis. The extra yield investors demand to own Japan’s corporate bonds over government debt rose 1 basis point to 66 yesterday since the U.S. downgrade on Aug. 5, indicating little change.
Enlarge image Japan Likely Relapsed Into Contraction Last Quarter Japan Likely Relapsed Into Contraction Last Quarter Tomohiro Ohsumi/ Mount Fuji, Japan's highest peak, emerges through buildings in the Shinjuku district at dusk, in Tokyo,
Enlarge image Stocks, Euro Decline on Debt Crisis Concern Stocks, Euro Decline on Debt Crisis Concern Tomohiro Ohsumi/ The euro weakened 0.8 percent to $1.2844. Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Play Video Audio Download:
He'll kick off 2012 with a concert featuring guest vocalist Anna Maria Jopek and flute master Tomohiro Fukuhara in Tokyo. Play us a tune: Jazz musician Makoto Ozone plays with Polish vocalist Anna Maria Jopek and flautist Tomohiro Fukuhara in Tokyo.
Photo: Tomohiro Ohsumi/ Investors reaching for yield are finding it in an unlikely place: battered financial companies. Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average last year, has trust preferreds
Enlarge image Toyota Sales in China Increase 4% on Output Disruption Toyota Sales in China Increase 4% on Output Disruption Tomohiro Ohsumi/ A worker polishes a Toyota Motor Corp. Camry vehicle displayed at the Beijing Auto Show in Beijing,
