How real is the sovereign default bogey? “I used to think, if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the President or the Pope or a .400 baseball hitter. But now I want to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody.” - James Carville Campaign strategist to Bill Clinton. Bond yields have risen sharply in recent weeks…

Last year’s global equity market rally of 67 per cent from the lows of March 2009 owes much to the massive liquidity injection by central banks around the world. But just as thoughts are turning towards the prospect of economic recovery and the ending of government support policies, so bond markets are fretting over the dismal fiscal prospects in many developed countries. Haunted by the bogey of sovereign default, yields have risen sharply in recent weeks. As Clinton’s adviser acidly observed on a previous occasion of fiscal stress, neither governments nor equity markets can ignore developments in bond markets…. (c) Read Full document (pdf)
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The Zurich Fund Selectors Forum 2010 will be held for leading Swiss fund selectors on the 25th of February at the Park Hyatt Hotel. The event’s unique format includes workshop-based sessions with five leading fund managers. Raphael Kassin, renowned emerging market bond specialist, appearing as guest of the editor and Gerhard Niggli, one of Switzerland’s leading capital market lawyers, will key note speaker