The Railroad Industry Hits a Gusher
The relationship between the oil and rail industries goes back over 100 years to the days of the Standard Oil [...]
May 31, 2013 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – April 2013
The Investment Grade Corporate market started the year well, as spreads tightened 8 basis points (bps) in response to fiscal [...]
April 12, 2013 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
Bail-In or Bail-Out? New Risks on the Horizon for the Banking Sector
The US banking sector is currently characterized by good credit fundamentals and supportive technicals. A key risk offsetting this credit [...]
April 9, 2013 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
Navigating the Activist Waters in the Energy Space
Navigating the energy sector has been a difficult exercise in the first two months of 2013 due to activist investors. [...]
February 28, 2013 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
Crude Oil Pipeline Build Out More Than Just Keystone XL
North American crude oil production growth from new regions requires new infrastructure Keystone XL is the largest project; Flanagan South [...]
November 29, 2012 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
2012 Holiday Retail Sales Forecast: Naughty or Nice?
Thanksgiving is here and Christmas is right around the corner. This is a very important time of year for the [...]
November 20, 2012 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – October/November 2012
Strong Performance from Investment Grade Corporates QE3 has Increased Demand for Investment Grade Corporates Company Earnings and Outlooks have been [...]
November 6, 2012 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – September 2012
Back to Work Corporate Bond Markets Outperformed Treasuries in August European Headlines Will be Plentiful, Leading to Higher Volatility Stimulus [...]
September 7, 2012 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – August 2012
Keeping It Simple Corporate Bond Market Outperformed Treasuries in July Near Term Outlook Uncertain with Politics in the U.S. and [...]
August 10, 2012 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – July 2012
Focus Will Be on the U.S. in the Second Half of 2012 Volatility has Increased in the Corporate Bond Market [...]
July 17, 2012 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
Plans for Significant Domestic Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Exports Likely to Chill Out
In the past decade, the domestic natural gas market has gone from a potential shortage to having nearly a centuries’ [...]
July 17, 2012 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – May 2012
A Negative Rating Forecast Adds to Pressure on Yield Starved Life Insurance Companies Investment Grade Corporate Bond Spreads Increase Spreads [...]
May 30, 2012 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
Railroading Into the Future
Introduction In 1827, the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Rail Road Company, now part of CSX Corporation, was capitalized with just [...]
May 9, 2012 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – April 2012
Is This Time Different? After Strong Performance in the First Quarter, Corporate Bond Spreads are Widening in April Due to [...]
April 20, 2012 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
The Pain in Spain Falls Mainly on the…
Spain is in the headlines again due to rising capital markets concerns about the country’s fiscal sustainability and the soundness [...]
April 18, 2012 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – March 2012
Strong Start to the Year The Positive Role of the LTRO Risk assets have rallied in 2012, fueled by European [...]
March 8, 2012 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – January 2012
2012 Outlook Overview Performance in 2011 departed from our outlook of positive excess returns largely due to the heightened systemic [...]
January 26, 2012 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – December 2011
Is European Central Bank Monetization the Answer? Corporate Bonds Underperformed Again in November It did not take investors long to [...]
December 13, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
Will It Be a “Merry Christmas” or “Bah Humbug” for U.S. Retailers This Year?
With Thanksgiving approaching, we thought it prudent to release our outlook for holiday retail sales. This is an especially important [...]
November 18, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – November 2011
Sovereign Risk Decreased But Not Diminished Results were Favorable for Corporate Bonds in October After months of debate, European leaders [...]
November 9, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
Private Label (Generic) vs. Branded Products: Differences Aren’t Black and White Anymore
Today’s private label products are far superior to those black and white labeled generic products familiar from the 1970’s. Private [...]
October 26, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – October 2011
Where to Invest in a Low Yield Environment The late rally in September for both equities and Corporate bond spreads [...]
October 3, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
New Regulations and Volatile Market Provide Opportunities in Electric Utilities
There are two items which we expect to drive the performance of bonds issued by electric utilities in the next [...]
September 30, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – September 2011
Political Risk is Rising What an ugly month! The Barclays Corporate Index posted -333 basis points (bps) of excess return [...]
September 9, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – August 2011
Leadership The Corporate credit market turned up in July, posting 33 basis points (bps) of excess return per the Barclays [...]
August 9, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – July 2011
Mid-Year Review and Outlook Investment grade corporate bond spreads widened again last month, producing -35 basis points (bps) of excess [...]
July 18, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
Credit Developments in the UK Bank Sector
During the 2007/2008 financial crisis, the United Kingdom (UK) government was forced to take material ownership stakes in the Royal [...]
July 13, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – June 2011
How Important Are The Autos? Investment grade corporate bond spreads widened last month, producing -39 basis points (bps) of excess [...]
June 9, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
A Tale of Two Retailers
A Tale of Two Retailers In this thought leadership piece, we analyze the home improvement sector of the retail industry. [...]
June 6, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – May 2011
More Buyers than Sellers – Is it Really that Simple? There was a strong bid for Corporate bonds last month, [...]
May 4, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
Oil Service and Driller Results Will be Strong for the Remainder of 2011 – Will Returns Be Strong Too?
Oil Service and Driller Results Will Be Strong for the Remainder of 2011 – Will Returns Be Strong Too? Oil [...]
April 21, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – April 2011
Will Higher Commodity Prices Result in Wider Spreads? Spreads widened in March, as we had expected, but have rebounded sharply [...]
April 8, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – March 2011
Too Far Too Fast? As equity markets sell off due to concerns about global growth, whether it be from the [...]
March 15, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – February 2011
2011 Outlook We believe the Corporate market faces less uncertainty relative to this time last year, and that is reflected [...]
February 7, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – January 2011
The Corporate market as represented by Barclays Capital Corporate Index posted positive excess returns of 229 basis points (bps). While [...]
January 10, 2011 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – December 2010
How Contagious is It? The Corporate market experienced a modest pullback in late November driven by credit spread widening associated [...]
December 1, 2010 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – November 2010
If You Build It, Will They Come? The elevated mood of the markets continued in October. The Corporate bond market, [...]
November 12, 2010 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – October 2010
How Should I Spend My Cash? While not as strong as the equity market, the investment grade credit market as [...]
October 6, 2010 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View – September 2010
Is It Really That Bad? Earnings season is almost over and while the data was positive overall, management commentary coupled [...]
September 2, 2010 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View — August 2010
Can We Still “Bank” on Economic Growth in the Second Half of 2010? After a volatile three months, Corporate spreads [...]
August 4, 2010 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View — July 2010
Is Muted Growth Less Than Zero? June was another volatile month for Corporate credit (Exhibit 1 in original PDF). Spreads [...]
July 7, 2010 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View — June 2010
Out Like a Lion May brought a steep reversal of the spread tightening over the previous few months. After 44 [...]
June 7, 2010 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
A Refreshing New Strategy in the Beverage Industry
The changing beverage marketplace has resulted in some major transformations amongst the industry’s chief competitors. The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo [...]
June 1, 2010 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
As Demand For Oil Keeps Rising, Costs To Supply It Do Too
Strong demand from emerging markets in 2009 caused oil consumption to decline less than expected, given the contraction of the [...]
June 1, 2010 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View — May 2010
A Greek Tragedy? The nearly $1 trillion aid package announced by the Eurozone policy makers on May 10, 2010 appears [...]
May 11, 2010 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View — April 2010
In Like a Lamb? Spring is starting off on a good note with Corporate bond option adjusted spreads (OAS) 23 [...]
April 1, 2010 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View — March 2010
The Barclays Corporate Bond Index modestly underperformed Treasuries in February (-5 basis points (bps) of excess return), leaving the Option [...]
March 2, 2010 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View — February 2010
Volatility re-emerged in January. It started strong with Corporate intermediate spreads tightening 10 basis points (bps) and long spreads 6 [...]
February 4, 2010 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View — January 2010
Year 2009 closed as an exceptional year for the Corporate Bond sector with 2276 basis points (bps) of excess return [...]
January 6, 2010 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight
AAM Corporate Credit View — December 2009
After a long run of positive excess returns, the Corporate Index posted a modestly negative month of excess returns in [...]
December 2, 2009 | Categories: Corporate Credits, Industry Insight


