Highlights from the week of August 1 – August 7, 2025.

Get the latest insights from our securitized credit desk.

Funded status is near 20-year highs, and sponsors are less inclined than ever to terminate plans.

As uncertainty around U.S. trade policy continues to shape the landscape for risk assets, a complex picture emerges for investment grade credit in 2025—but what does the future hold?

After a volatile start to the year, we see opportunities as markets focus on President Trump’s deregulatory agenda, tech’s unrelenting rise, and Europe’s defense surge.

The economy’s impressive resilience has helped markets shake off fiscal and geopolitical uncertainties. But while it’s business as usual for some sectors, others are facing a panoply of new challenges, compounded by the accelerating AI revolution. Our experts take a look at how to play this complex new landscape.

Markets are holding steady despite mounting uncertainty, as investors, the Fed, and corporate America wait for clarity on fiscal policy and the direction of the economy.

The current market environment offers allocators the chance to capitalize on earnings quality and an innovation cycle in large cap equities, as well as attractive yields with manageable risk and some recession protection in investment grade credit.

Even as markets cheer easing trade tensions, the effects of tariff uncertainty may still show up in economic data—and bring renewed volatility with them.

U.S. economic growth is expected to slow this year, and the risk of a recession has certainly risen. While credit spreads have widened from historically tight levels, they are not flashing warning signs. Is this a buy-the-dip moment?