The NAVigator

Andrew Kerai, senior credit strategist and portfolio manager at RiverNorth Capital Management, says that investors looking to improve fixed income returns should consider middle-market corporate credits and other issues in the private credit market, but he notes that investors should be attuned to downside risks, noting that they make more with a manager who does better avoiding defaults than with one who chases higher yield but takes on more risk.

James Clark, client portfolio manager at Nuveen Asset Management, says that real assets and infrastructure investments -- normally consistent, defensive investments -- have seen those appealing characteristics under attack because of the pandemic shutdowns, but he noted that Covid-19 tended to accelerate trends that were in place rather than disrupting those movements. With the development of a vaccine,he expects pricing to firm up as uncertainty starts to melt away -- 'the worst case scenario has been taken off the table for a lot of folks' -- but for those positive trends to continue, particularly in an area like industrial real estate.

Jonathan Browne, director of closed-end fund research at Robinson Capital, says that investors should be looking to closed-end funds to help solve the yield challenges they face today, when low interest rates have challenged the traditional 60-40 portfolio and when bonds have performed in lock-step with the stock market. While the industry keeps developing new and different investment solutions, Browne notes that closed-end funds are a more simple half-step toward alternatives that can be just as effective.