High Yield Bonds – Enhancing Portfolio Resilience and Returns

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Pictet Asset Management’s September 2025 Fixed Income analysis, led by Nicolas Musolino and Nithin Mallya, evaluates the role of high yield bonds in multi-asset portfolios.

  • Risk-adjusted performance: Replacing part of equity allocations with high yield bonds reduces drawdowns and improves risk-return efficiency, even in equity bull markets.

  • Downside protection: Value-at-Risk (VaR) shows high yield bonds suffer smaller losses (-2.4%) versus equities (-6.6%) during downturns.

  • Portfolio optimization: A balanced portfolio achieves stronger outcomes with a meaningful high yield allocation, supported by contracted coupon income and pull-to-par dynamics.

Could high yield serve as a more stable growth engine in today’s volatile market landscape? The full report explores the case in depth.

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