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Financing Year in Review: The Tide Turns

Harvard Corporate Governance

high-yield bond issuances were down approximately three quarters year-over-year – the lowest volume since 2008 – while newly minted leveraged loans fell nearly two-thirds from 2021 levels. Investment-grade bond issuances fared better, but were still down significantly, with new issuances falling roughly 20% year-over-year.

Finance 231
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Data Update 2 for 2022: US Stocks kept winning in 2021, but…

Musings on Markets

Leading into 2021, the big questions facing investors were about how quickly economies would recover from COVID, with the assumption that the virus would fade during the year, and the pressures that the resulting growth would put on inflation.

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In Search of Safe Havens: The Trust Deficit and Risk-free Investments!

Musings on Markets

In every introductory finance class, you begin with the notion of a risk-free investment, and the rate on that investment becomes the base on which you build, to get to expected returns on risky assets and investments. What is a risk free investment? Why does the risk-free rate matter?

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Data Update 2 for 2021: The Price of Risk!

Musings on Markets

If, on the other hand, investors are risk neutral, the price of risk will be zero, and investors will buy risky business, stocks and other investments, and settle for the risk free rate as the expected return.

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Data Update 3: Inflation and its Ripple Effects!

Musings on Markets

Inflation numbers have been coming in high now, for more than a year, but for much of the early part of 2021, bankers, investors and politicians seemed to be either in denial or casually dismissive of its potential for damage.

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Data Update 4 for 2021: The Hurdle Rate Question!

Musings on Markets

The vehicle that I use to convey country risk into hurdle rates is the equity risk premium , the price of risk in equity markets, that I talked about in my earlier post on the topic. US , Europe , Emerging Markets , Japan , Australia/NZ & Canada , Global ) 2. Cost of equity in US $ for German project = 1% + 1.1

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Country Risk: A 2022 Mid-year Update!

Musings on Markets

lived under full democracy, in 2021, with large differences across regions. Country Risk: Currency and Cost of Capital As a final part to this post, to see the shifts in country risk that we have seen in 2022, let’s start with an assessment of risk free rates.