Keep pulling the thread on Ed Perks.
Ed Perks believes that credit rating agencies lag the market by a significant margin, creating an opportunity for investors who conduct their own fundamental analysis.
Ed Perks believes the tremendous growth and capital inflows into the private credit market create a greater risk of less-disciplined investments and potential systemic issues due to a lack of transparency.
Ed Perks is concerned that the VIX index is at a very low level, which he believes does not accurately reflect the high level of uncertainty in the market from policy and upcoming midterm elections.
In the last five years, Franklin Templeton's multi-asset income strategy has seen its allocation swing from 75% equity and 25% fixed income to the reverse.
Ed Perks expressed concern that corporate bond spreads are tight, but noted that historically they have remained near historical lows for extended periods.
In the past year, Franklin Templeton's income strategy shifted out of a significant overweight in investment grade corporate debt and into agency mortgage-backed securities due to widening spreads in the latter.
Ed Perks believes the higher credit quality components of the high-yield bond market are currently one of the more attractive investment areas.
Ed Perks asserts that the double-digit losses in both stocks and bonds in 2022 were caused by historically low starting interest rates, which meant bonds had no "carry" to offset price declines from rate hikes.
Ed Perks does not expect another year of double-digit losses in both stocks and bonds to happen again soon, as the current market backdrop is different from 2022.
Ed Perks believes sectors such as utilities and industrials have an interesting investment profile for the rest of the decade due to reasonable valuations.
The Franklin Income Fund has paid uninterrupted monthly dividends since its launch in 1948.
Franklin Templeton launched the Franklin Income strategy in an SMA vehicle in 2022 and in an ETF vehicle in 2023.