Yield Chasing Everywhere

Yield Chasing Guest post by Jonathan Rochford, CFA Portfolio Manager of Narrow Road Capital Pty Ltd

August was a mixed month for risk assets with the credit the best of the major asset classes. China (3.9%), Japan (1.9%) and Europe (1.1%) saw gains on stocks, but the US (-0.1%) and Australia (-2.2%) went backwards. Commodities mostly fell with the Bloomberg commodities index down 1.8% driven by falls in copper (-6.5%) and gold (-3.2%). US oil bucked the trend surging 7.8%. Emerging markets mostly rallied with strong flows boosting equities and debt.

The key theme for August was yield chasing, with evidence of...