By Steve Blumenthal, CIO
CMG Capital Management Group
Trend following process moved us from HY
to very short-term bond exposure last week
For more than 22 years I’ve been trading the intermediate-term trends in the high yield market. I wake up each day, grab a coffee and sit in my favorite chair. With laptop online, the first thing I do is look at the prior day’s high yield bond mutual funds’ closing prices – it’s a pretty long list. Do anything for that long a period of time and you gain a feel for trend. Of course, my wife looks over and says, “Looking at charts again.” It has remained so interesting to me. I know – I need to get a life.
Anyway, I’ve been warning on the coming default wave in high yield and I can say with some confidence that high yield is usually one of the first asset classes to warn of recession. Though, of course, past performance means zilcho in this business.