Excessive Corporate Debt Kills: When The Tide Goes Out You See Who Is Swimming Naked

When she started on Wall Street analyzing OTC credit derivatives at the turn of the century, Amy Zhang received an insider’s view into how the finance sausage was made just prior to the global financial crisis. Today speaking from the stage at the Morningstar Investment Conference she has a message regarding corporate balance sheets: “Debt is a four-letter word,” she warned. “Leverage kills.”

Q1 hedge fund letters, conference, scoops etc

And she is not alone.

With corporate debt to GDP levels near 46%, a panel of experts on the stage in Chicago voiced concern along with officials at the...