Bonds

US Investment-Grade Bonds Return 5.8% in Best Quarter of 2024

  • The market had slight declines in both 1st and 2nd quarters
  • High grade at the brink of longest winning streak since 2019
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US high-grade corporate bonds logged their first quarterly gain this year in the past three months, returning 5.8% for its best performance since the final stanza of 2023, according to a Bloomberg index.

As investors saw the start of the Federal Reserve’s rate-cut cycle pushed out to September, investment-grade notes logged slight quarterly losses despite strong demand of new bonds. Year-to-date, orders have exceeded supply by 3.7 timesBloomberg Terminal, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Last month’s rate was 5.4 times despite a global surge of debt issuance.