One of the hottest gifts of the recent holiday season was the Amazon (AMZN) Echo, which offers to ease the lives of customers by directing the system with its famous command "Alexa…" This move toward the automation of a greater percentage of our lives has a parallel in the investing world.
We consider this trend in the wake of the worst quarter for the broad U.S. bond market since 1981. After a nearly 100 basis point rise in Treasury yields resulting in a nearly 3% decline for the quarter, investors are faced with new opportunities and challenges.
Between rising expectations of growth and inflation, the broad market yields ended 2016 at their highest level (2.6%) in five years presenting an attractive investment environment. At the same time, benchmark duration has risen to the highest levels (5.9 years) since its inception in 1973 and 30% above the level…