The pipeline for Japanese corporate bonds is the slowest since 2023 as investors contend with uncertainty about the Middle East war. The number of borrowers planning yen deals at the start of the new fiscal year is down about 60% from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Demand has weakened as Iran tensions fuel more rate volatility in a market that’s already under pressure due...
The pipeline for Japanese corporate bonds is the slowest since 2023 as investors contend with uncertainty about the Middle East war. The number of borrowers planning yen deals at the start of the new fiscal year is down about 60% from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Demand has weakened as Iran tensions fuel more rate volatility in a market that’s already under pressure due to expectations of another Bank of Japan rate hike. This turbulence underscores how Japanese companies may not be able to rely on the credit market for a stable source of funding, even after record bond sales last financial year. Heightened geopolitical tensions have driven up credit spreads to the widest in about three months, raising funding costs for issuers. Japan Post Holdings Co. and 11 other issuers are planning bond sales in April and May, according to data as of April 1. That compares with 29 at the same point a year earlier, and even with US tariff-related volatility the credit market went on to mark a stellar year in 2025. Credit spreads have widened to around 46 basis points this week, compared with 44.4 basis points the day before US and Israeli attacks on Iran began on Feb. 28, according to the Bloomberg Asian-Pacific Japanese Corporate Index. That’s after benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond yields rose to 2.39% in March, the highest in almost three decades. Sovereign yields are also seeing unprecedented big swings on a daily basis, making it difficult for corporate issuers to price bonds given the long marketing period on Japanese deals. “Volatility is high, and it is hard to tell how soon the Middle East situation will calm down, or how views on a BOJ rate hike will evolve,” said Kazuma Ogino , a senior credit analyst at Nomura Securities Co. Overnight index swaps imply about a 70% chance of the BOJ increasing rates later this month.
Dubai Crackdown Hits Iran's Economic Lifeline, Squeezes IRGC Networks By Negar Mojtahedi of Iran International The arrest of dozens of IRGC-linked money changers in the United Arab Emirates is one of the most serious blows yet to Tehran’s sanctions-evasion network, laying bare how heavily the Islamic Republic has depended on Dubai as an economic lifeline. Sources familiar with the matter told Iran...
Dubai Crackdown Hits Iran's Economic Lifeline, Squeezes IRGC Networks By Negar Mojtahedi of Iran International The arrest of dozens of IRGC-linked money changers in the United Arab Emirates is one of the most serious blows yet to Tehran’s sanctions-evasion network, laying bare how heavily the Islamic Republic has depended on Dubai as an economic lifeline. Sources familiar with the matter told Iran International that UAE authorities detained dozens of money changers tied to financial entities linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, shut down associated companies and closed their offices. The crackdown follows days of mounting regional tensions and comes after other measures targeting Iranian nationals, including visa revocations and tighter travel restrictions through Dubai. For years, Dubai has served as Iran’s main offshore financial artery , where oil proceeds, petrochemical revenues and rial conversions were turned into dollars, dirhams and euros beyond the reach of the country’s battered domestic banking system . “This is going to be a real problem for Tehran because Dubai was an economic lung for the Iranian regime,” Jason Brodsky of United Against Nuclear Iran told Iran International. “That is economic pressure and diplomatic isolation in a way that the UAE is able to employ against the Iranian regime, and it will have a very considerable impact.” "Most critical hub" According to Miad Maleki, a former senior US Treasury sanctions strategist and now a senior fellow at FDD, the UAE is not just one sanctions-evasion hub among many. “The UAE is the single most critical jurisdiction in the Iranian regime’s sanctions-evasion architecture,” Maleki said. Dubai’s exchange houses have long given the IRGC and the Quds Force access to the hard currency needed to finance proxy groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and militias in Iraq. The detention of trusted IRGC-linked money changers threatens networks that took years to build. “These trust-based sarraf (money c...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images The Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF ( SPLV ), launched on 05/05/2011 and managed by Invesco Capital Management LLC, offers differentiated exposure to the S&P 500 by targeting the least volatile names in the index. It charges an expense ratio of 0.25% and has $7.2 billion in AUM. Its methodology differentiates it from its peers in that it lacks sector ...
JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images The Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF ( SPLV ), launched on 05/05/2011 and managed by Invesco Capital Management LLC, offers differentiated exposure to the S&P 500 by targeting the least volatile names in the index. It charges an expense ratio of 0.25% and has $7.2 billion in AUM. Its methodology differentiates it from its peers in that it lacks sector weight constraints and weights by volatility. But this has resulted in underperformance over the years and is tied to higher sector concentration and interest-rate risk. More importantly, the current market and macroeconomic conditions make this fund more likely to underperform the broad market. Methodology SPLV tracks the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index, which starts with the S&P 500 Index (the parent index) and selects the 100 stocks with the lowest volatility. It defines volatility by the standard deviation of each stock's daily price returns over the prior 252 trading sessions. Instead of market-cap-weighting these 100 stocks, the index also uses volatility as the weighting factor; the lower the volatility, the larger the weight. Rebalancing occurs on a quarterly basis (each January, April, July, and October) and it becomes effective after the close of the third Friday of February, May, August, and November. It's noteworthy that the index won't place sector caps, so whatever sectors happen to have the least volatile stocks will constitute most of the portfolio. Portfolio As expected, the top weights represent an insignificant portion of the whole portfolio, keeping single-name concentration very low. The top 10 holdings account for only 12.8% of the portfolio and each one of them accounts for around 1.3%. Seeking Alpha The sector composition, however, has some noteworthy biases. The first is the long-duration/rate-sensitive exposure, as represented by Tech, Utilities, and Real Estate, which together constitute as much as ~43% of the fund. Stocks in this bucket tend to bene...
On Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Trump v. Barbara , a case challenging President Donald Trump's 2025 executive order banning birthright citizenship. Justices seemed skeptical of the administration's argument, but by taking up birthright citizenship at all, they showed how much ground nativists have gained since Trump's first term. The 14th Amendment is quite clear: "all p...
On Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Trump v. Barbara , a case challenging President Donald Trump's 2025 executive order banning birthright citizenship. Justices seemed skeptical of the administration's argument, but by taking up birthright citizenship at all, they showed how much ground nativists have gained since Trump's first term. The 14th Amendment is quite clear: "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." Trump seeks to overturn this and create a new, effectively stateless American underclas … Read the full story at The Verge.
Western Australia invoked emergency powers to force fuel suppliers to provide detailed information on their supply chains, as the nation seeks to manage an ongoing shortage spurred by panic-buying in the wake of the war in Iran. The state government activated the powers under the Fuel, Energy and Power Resources Act after several companies failed to provide specific data and information on fuel sh...
Western Australia invoked emergency powers to force fuel suppliers to provide detailed information on their supply chains, as the nation seeks to manage an ongoing shortage spurred by panic-buying in the wake of the war in Iran. The state government activated the powers under the Fuel, Energy and Power Resources Act after several companies failed to provide specific data and information on fuel shipments, it said in a statement on Wednesday. Western Australia is a major global exporter of iron ore, gold and other minerals, as well as of agricultural products including grains and livestock, all of which are reliant on diesel to run their operations. Most of Australia’s fuels are imported, and the conflict in the Middle East has squeezed global supplies, sending prices at the pump to records . “Despite assurances from major suppliers that fuel shipments are expected to continue to arrive in April at normal levels, the ongoing conflict, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and other circumstances in the Gulf region have impacted on the distribution of fuel,” the Western Australian government said in the statement. That’s resulted in some mining and agricultural businesses experiencing shortages, and the distribution of fuel could be further affected “if these circumstances continue,” it said.
(Bloomberg) -- Globalstar Inc. shares jumped more than 20% in late trading on a Financial Times report that Amazon.com Inc. is in talks to acquire the satellite provider. The deal would bolster Amazon’s effort to build its own satellite operation, the newspaper reported, citing unidentified people with knowledge of the discussions. The two sides remain in negotiations over some of the transaction’...
(Bloomberg) -- Globalstar Inc. shares jumped more than 20% in late trading on a Financial Times report that Amazon.com Inc. is in talks to acquire the satellite provider. The deal would bolster Amazon’s effort to build its own satellite operation, the newspaper reported, citing unidentified people with knowledge of the discussions. The two sides remain in negotiations over some of the transaction’s complexity, the Times said.Bloomberg News reported last year that Globalstar was exploring a poten
In this episode of Motley Fool Money , Motley Fool analyst Rachel Warren talks with Chris Bradley, senior partner and director of the McKinsey Global Institute, about the next 75 years, the $700 billion AI supercycle, and why the world needs an energy renaissance. To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center . When you're ready to invest, check out th...
In this episode of Motley Fool Money , Motley Fool analyst Rachel Warren talks with Chris Bradley, senior partner and director of the McKinsey Global Institute, about the next 75 years, the $700 billion AI supercycle, and why the world needs an energy renaissance. To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center . When you're ready to invest, check out this top 10 list of stocks to buy . A full transcript is below. Continue reading
Prae_Studio/iStock via Getty Images Those who follow me know that lately I’ve really been appreciating the presence of dividends in the portfolio. In my opinion, they will have a greater impact on the total return function in the coming years. During the sell-off of the past month, and the sector rotation, this helped me. Today, however, there is another piece of evidence that I can’t help but not...
Prae_Studio/iStock via Getty Images Those who follow me know that lately I’ve really been appreciating the presence of dividends in the portfolio. In my opinion, they will have a greater impact on the total return function in the coming years. During the sell-off of the past month, and the sector rotation, this helped me. Today, however, there is another piece of evidence that I can’t help but notice: certain sectors that were considered very expensive until a month ago, such as tech, have now returned to having acceptable forward valuations, at least from my point of view. And I ask myself: how can I combine these two pieces of evidence into a portfolio exposure? Well, personally I found an answer in Fidelity High Dividend ETF ( FDVV ). But before explaining why… What is FDVV FDVV is an ETF, the result of a proprietary methodology , not of a “standard” external benchmark, definable in my opinion as “equity core-like with an income tilt”. It does this by aiming to replicate the Fidelity High Dividend Index. All of this with an expense ratio of 0.15% gross and net, a low cost consistent with an efficient passive ETF. FDVV: Price trend overview (Seeking Alpha) The Strategy The index strategy selects large- and mid-cap companies with high dividend yield, low payout ratio, and high dividend growth. The fund therefore does not maximize current yield, but seeks companies capable of sustaining and growing distributions; the positive implication is the avoidance of some dividend traps; the negative one is that the current yield is lower and the product loses appeal for those seeking immediate income. Then sectors with higher dividend yield are overweighted, while those with lower yield are underweighted relative to the broader equity market. For this reason, it has more weight in Financials, Utilities, Real Estate; less weight in low-yield sectors. FDVV: Sector allocation comparison (Author) Today’s Composition The fund consists of about 114 holdings, where numerical divers...