Fixed Income Perspectives: Themes for the Second Half of 2026
The back half of 2026 may hinge on six themes: AI spending, uneven growth, labor supply, sticky inflation, uneasy central banks, and volatile bond markets.
Read MoreVoya Investment Management
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10/22/26
RISK AND OPPORTUNITY IN THE ERA OF AI
Jeff Hobbs of Voya Investment Management discusses the risks and opportunities created by AI across credit markets, data centers, power infrastructure, hyperscalers, duration, and insurance portfolio construction.
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Fund Finance: Case Studies
Structured lending to funds can provide similar returns at potentially lower risk than investing as an LP, with limited J-curve effect—and a range of duration, rate profile, collateral, and risk options to suit most investor needs.
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Fixed Income: Navigating the AI Capex Boom
AI-related debt is now over 15% of the U.S. investment grade bond universe and responsible for multiple $10+ billion private placements, and that’s not even taking into account associated sectors. Here’s where we see potential— and pitfalls—for fixed income portfolios.
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A Guide to Investment Grade Private Credit
With attractive yields, robust covenant protection, and ample liquidity, investment grade private credit is a growing favorite of both investors and borrowers. Here’s what you need to know.
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How Private Equity Secondaries Squeeze Water from a Stone
Whether M&A or IPO activity is slowing or thriving, a strategy focused on secondary private equity may provide more stable cash flows compared to primary investments. However, the diversification of the underlying assets in the portfolio will likely play a key role in determining the level of cash flow.
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Commercial Mortgage Loans: Enhancing Yields with Real Estate Debt
The commercial real estate market is experiencing strong transaction and origination volume as well as notable asset price stabilization.
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Iran-Driven Considerations for Fixed Income Markets
Escalating geopolitical tensions add uncertainty just as markets had been anticipating disinflation and monetary easing. For fixed income investors, the focus is on how energy, inflation expectations, and risk pricing may respond if disruptions deepen.
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Private Credit Insights: Cut the SaaS
While often labeled “senior secured,” these software loans are likely to have very low recovery rates in times of trouble (or transformational tech sector change) due to their lack of tangible collateral.
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IG Credit in 2026: Attractive Yields Still Doing the Heavy Lifting
With spreads tight and issuance set to rise, elevated all-in yields remain the key force anchoring investment grade credit returns in 2026.
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Private Credit Insights: Liquid Courage
Policy uncertainty, federal funding cuts, and volatile markets have spurred many investment boards to fixate on liquidity. Take courage: You can sell out of private credit positions—and not just to secondaries funds.
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Equity Themes for 2H25: Policy and Innovation Drive Profit Potential
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.
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Renewable Energy Infrastructure: Impact of the One Big, Beautiful Bill
The newly-passed budget bill’s early sunset of clean energy investment tax credits will likely fuel a near-term spike in renewable energy infrastructure deal flow. Longer-term impact is mitigated by renewable generation’s historically-observed ability to adapt to changing project economics, and the U.S.’ surging electricity demand growth.
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Fixed Income Perspectives: 2H25 Themes
We develop and regularly evaluate macroeconomic and thematic insights that drive dynamic sector allocation across our multi-sector fixed income portfolios. The following six themes reflect how we are structuring our risk profile in the second half of 2025.
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CIO Roundtable: The New Divergence
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.
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Cash Balance Plans: What You Need to Know
The cash balance plan is the fastest-growing plan design in the country, but they can be tricky for sponsors to hedge.
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A Guide to Investment Grade Private Credit
With attractive yields, robust covenant protection, and ample liquidity, investment grade private credit is a growing favorite of both investors and borrowers. Here’s what you need to know.
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Multi-Asset Perspectives: Adapting to Political Shifts and Economic Rebalancing
Policy uncertainty drives market volatility: The Trump administration’s trade policies, including reciprocal tariffs, have caused significant market volatility and uncertainty. While tariff reductions have been announced, there may be higher levels of volatility as trade memorandums of understanding are negotiated.
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Fixed Income Perspectives: A Buy-the-Dip Opportunity?
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?
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Tariff Shockwaves: 3 Market Takeaways
Following last week’s turbulent equity market and the surprising weakness in bonds, we gathered our thoughts on the markets and what we’re watching closely.
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3 Reasons to Consider International Small Cap Equities
For investors looking for better potential return opportunities and diversification benefits, we see three reasons to venture beyond U.S. stocks.
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LDI Quarterly Update: 1Q25
With the first quarter marked by volatility and funded status at risk, it may be time for defensive positioning.
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Insurance Themes: A Travel Companion for Tariff Turbulence
Every resource committed to managing Voya’s insurance general account is extended to our insurance clients. Here are some strategies we’re using to navigate market uncertainty.
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Insurance Themes: A Travel Companion for Tariff Turbulence - Webinar Replay
We expect uncertainty and volatility to persist and for the investment challenges facing insurance companies to remain elevated.
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Positioning for Tariff Impacts and Market Volatility
Voya’s Multi Asset Strategies and Solutions team is committed to helping our clients and investors weather turbulent times. Here’s our latest thinking and portfolio positioning.
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Private Credit Insights: Play Ball!
Sports teams’ capital needs are often best served by asset-based finance, such as media rights and infrastructure transactions, rather than corporate debt. We look at some case studies in sports lending and, more broadly, how to think about ABF allocations in portfolios.
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Corporate Pension Investing: The Bear Necessities
This year has been marked by high volatility and the specter of negative equity returns. For sponsors wanting to shift to a more risk-off stance, we examine what a defensive portfolio looks like in 2025.
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Quick Take: What Tariff Shockwaves Mean for Your Portfolio
Despite broadly telegraphing new tariffs, Trump caught markets off guard with the sweeping scope of his policies. Markets are taking the news seriously, given the risk of higher inflation and slower growth at a time when consumer spending and confidence are already under pressure.
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Tariff Notes: Voya Short Duration High Income
With U.S. high yield markets starting from solid ground, our approach to managing trade risk is to limit unnecessary exposure to affected industries.
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Watch Now: Tariffs and the Insurance Investing Landscape
Despite broadly telegraphing new tariffs, Trump caught markets off guard with the sweeping scope of his policies. Watch as Jeff Hobbs, CFA, Head of Insurance Portfolio Management, discusses recent events, investment and portfolio implications, and what insurance companies should be doing right now.
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CIO Roundtable: Historic Reform or Gathering Storm?
As policy uncertainty clouds the economic horizon, how much of this year’s market volatility is being driven by sentiment, and how much is declining fundamentals? Our experts take a look.
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The S&P 500: Diversified Index…or Active Management in Disguise?
When the S&P 500 is more like the S&P 50, passive investing may not be the diversified approach you think it is. Here are some simple ways to broaden your exposure and reduce concentration risk.
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Tariff Gambit: Our Thoughts on Weathering the Volatility
The fluid tariff situation is paralyzing businesses, worrying consumers, and confusing investors. In periods of high uncertainty, we believe the best approach is to remain steady and reassess whether portfolio allocations align with investment goals. Here’s how our teams are managing the current environment.
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Senior Loan Talking Points
Following the release of the elevated CPI print this week, rates slightly widened. The loan market experienced some softening this week, as the Morningstar® LSTA® US Leveraged Loan Index (Index) returned 0.03% for the seven day period ended February 13. The average Index bid price lost 14 bp, finishing the week at 97.37.
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LDI Annual Review: 2024
Credit spread tightening and U.S. pension plans: options for yield enhancement.
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Win Big or Win Often: Which Matters More?
Screening for high levels of excess capital is a good starting point for finding winners—but persistent stock picking comes from fundamental analysis to identify companies that best use their dry powder.
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U.S. Leveraged Credit in 2025: Yields Offer a Cushion in an Aging Credit Cycle
While high starting yields should provide a buffer against potential volatility, credit selection will be critical as dispersion within and across sectors increases.
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Fixed Income Perspectives: The “Good” Good News about Bonds
Inflation is cooling, the economy is resilient and starting yields offer a cushion against further rate volatility—there’s a lot to like about fixed income in 2025.
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DeepSeek: An AI Innovation Milestone, Not a Disruptor
Markets may have been shocked by headlines about China’s DeepSeek breakthrough, but many in the AI industry were not. And when you peek under the hood, there’s plenty of good news.
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CIO Roundtable: Can 2025 Live Up to the Promise?
Despite questions about the Fed, Trump policies and a shifting global order, markets appear to have embraced the pro-growth promise of deregulation and tax cuts.
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Private Credit Insights 4Q24: The Year Ahead
All we want for Christmas is a great 2025 for alts. Looking at the factors in play, we may just get it—more (and bigger) deals, attractive spreads, and a little “Trump bump” here and there.
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Fixed Income Perspectives: Themes for 1H25
As investors prepare for the effects of higher-for-longer rates and a new administration in 2025, we offer five themes we think will drive fixed income markets in the first half of the year.
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U.S. Investment Grade Credit Update
After a bumpy start, 2024 emerged as a year of resilience for fixed income markets, with strong returns and a promising outlook for U.S. corporate bonds.
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Private Credit Insights 3Q24: What People Get Wrong about Private Credit
Myths and misapprehensions about private credit often seem to get more airtime than facts. Here’s a look beyond the headlines at what the market’s really like.
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A Guide to Mortgage-Related Assets
Residential mortgages are transformed by investors’ de-risking process into a spectrum of assets, from very stable CMO bonds to mortgage derivatives, credit risk transfers and more. The result is a broad range of liquid investment opportunities featuring differentiated risk profiles and attractive risk-adjusted returns.
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Key Structural Changes Shaping Insurance Portfolio Management
We’re increasingly finding opportunities in asset-based finance, taking advantage of attractive spread-to-public premia, diversifying collateral and desirable structural characteristics.
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Private Credit Insights 4Q24: The Year Ahead
All we want for Christmas is a great 2025 for alts. Looking at the factors in play, we may just get it—more (and bigger) deals, attractive spreads, and a little “Trump bump” here and there.
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Zig When Others Zag: Thoughts on Value Investing
Assessing stocks through the lens of excess capital formation can help investors avoid value traps and identify high-quality stocks that tend to look less attractive based on traditional metrics.
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CIO Roundtable: Electionomics in 2024
As we head into the final stretch of hotly contested races up and down the ballot, our experts convene for civilized discourse on what matters to markets, what doesn’t, and how the economy can possibly survive past November 5th.
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Opportunity Knocks in Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities
As demand from banks and other real money investors returns (and money market demand wanes), agency mortgage-backed securities are poised to benefit.
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LDI Quarterly Update: 2Q24
With many corporate pension plans now overfunded, sponsors are exploring ways to monetize those excess assets.
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Fixed Income Perspectives: Themes for 2H24 – Volatility is a Ladder
As we approach the halfway point of the year, all eyes remain on Federal Reserve policy and the pace of inflation’s downward trend.
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Power-Hungry AI is a Game Changer for Utilities
Artificial intelligence (AI) has now touched nearly every aspect of life. And, as it turns out, powering AI applications requires a lot of energy. U.S. data centers currently consume as much electricity as all households in New York and Florida combined. With the rapid adoption of AI and development of AI-powered data, this consumption is projected to nearly triple by 2035, matching the combined usage of New York, Florida, Texas, and California households!
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CIO Roundtable: Beyond the Magnificent Seven—AI’s Ripple Effect
The race for superintelligence has triggered a spending boom on graphics chips, data centers, power supply and talent. Our panel discusses what it means for investors.
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Voya Private Credit Energy & Infrastructure Quarterly Spring 2024: Power Generation’s Wake-Up Call
Voya’s energy experts take a deep dive into the re-awakening of U.S. electricity demand, and what it means for generation, transmission, and grid stability.
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Private Credit Insights: The Power Issue
The most interesting angle on AI’s growth for credit investors may well be in energy transition. Here’s why—and how to play it.
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Mind the (Asset-Liability) Gap… Building Flexible Multi-Sector Portfolios
The sharp sell-off in interest rates since the start of the hiking cycle has created attractive investment opportunities for insurance investors, but liquidity strains have been common across the industry.
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Private Credit Insights: The Collateral Crunch (and How to Avoid It)
The average middle market fund has less than 26% of its loans in high-collateral deals. Here’s what to do about it.
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Capital Market Assumptions 2024
Each year, the Voya Multi-Asset Strategies and Solutions team formulates capital market forecasts for the coming decade. This exercise is an opportunity for us to step back from the day-to-day noise within the markets and consider longer-term trends in economic and financial factors that are likely to drive asset class return and risk. We rely on these assumptions to set our strategic asset allocations for our multi-asset portfolios.
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The Road Not Taken by Insurance Investors
Where Frost took the road less traveled, we insurance PMs can take two (or more!) roads at once as we forge a path that delivers on our investment objectives.
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Private Credit Insights: Every Problem Is an Opportunity in Disguise
Bank lending and deal flow on the decline, economic stress on the rise. It’s a surprisingly good time for private credit.
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Energy & Infrastructure Quarterly: Pendulum of Perception
We retrace boom-and-bust periods and chronicle improvements in the credit quality of North American energy companies following the pandemic.
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Interest-Only Securities Make a Strong Comeback
Interest-only securities offer attractive, high-single-digit unlevered yields to the market’s base-case prepayment expectation and stand to benefit from significant spread tightening as demand for the asset class increases amid limited supply.
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Five Things to Watch in Securitized Credit
The forecast for securitized credit has turned notably brighter in recent months, even as the dark cloud of offices continues to cast a long shadow.
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Using FHLBs for Insurance Portfolio Management to Drive Risk-Adjusted Returns
Adding durable, low-cost external leverage to lower-volatility assets via the FHLB system can be an attractive way to enhance risk-adjusted return potential versus owning higher-volatility assets with more embedded leverage directly on insurance company balance sheets.
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Insurance themes: A rolling stone gathers no moss
Higher investible yields and elevated volatility have combined to create meaningful opportunities for insurance companies with the willingness and ability to capitalize.
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NAIC 1 bonds with 6%+ yields … fear the risk or embrace the opportunity?
SASBs in the industrial, multi-family and life sciences spaces are compelling. Higher-yielding office and retail CMBS aren’t worth the reach … yet.
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Risk and Opportunity in the Era of AI
Jeff Hobbs of Voya Investment Management discusses the risks and opportunities created by AI across credit markets, data centers, power infrastructure, hyperscalers, duration, and insurance portfolio construction.
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Relative Value That Hasn’t Compressed: Why Commercial Mortgages Still Stand Out
Greg Michaud and Stefanie Stewart of Voya Investment Management discuss why commercial mortgages continue to offer compelling relative value, strong underwriting opportunities, and attractive risk-adjusted returns for insurance investors.
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Plugging into the Energy Transition Opportunity
Edward Levin, Managing Director and Co-Head of Direct Infrastructure at Voya Investment Management, joins the InsuranceAUM.com Podcast to break down the energy transition opportunity, offering insight into renewable infrastructure financing, evolving demand drivers, and why bipartisan support keeps the sector resilient.
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Navigating Private Credit and Alts: Insights with Chris Lyons of Voya IM
Chris Lyons is the Head of Private Fixed Income and Alternatives at Voya Investment Management
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Building Flexible Multi-sector Portfolios
Jeffrey Hobbs is the Head of Insurance Portfolio Management at Voya Investment Management.
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CMLs in 2024: A repriced market with attractive opportunities?
Greg Michaud is the Head of Real Estate Finance at Voya.
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Disclaimer
*as of 03/31/2026