To select the members of our seventh annual Global Fixed Income Team, Extel solicited the opinions of bond and credit specialists at leading asset management firms around the world.
We received responses from 6,707 investment professionals at 1,693 institutions and voters cast over 151,000 firm and analyst votes.
Macro sectors were polled by region for the US, Europe, Latin America, Japan, Asia ex-Japan, and Emerging EMEA. Credit sectors were polled for the US and Europe. Additionally, four global sectors were polled. Participants first rated their top firms in regional sectors on a scale from 1-5, and then separately rated individual analysts or economists/strategists at those firms to create two distinct results for each sector. A numerical score was produced by weighting each vote based on the respondent’s fixed-income AUM for the region voted in and the ratings awarded.
Using those scores, ranks were then determined. Firms/analysts were designated runners‐up when their scores came within 35 percent of the third-place scores. In the Investment-Grade and High-Yield categories only those analysts who publish independent research pursuant to Regulation AC or as defined by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority are eligible to be recognized.
No such restriction applies in Economics and Strategy sectors. The individuals surveyed are kept confidential to ensure continuing cooperation. Voters must meet eligibility requirements, and winners must achieve a minimum vote count.
While 2024 was dominated by the run up and eventual outcome of the U.S. Presidential election, 2025 marked a different narrative for the global economy and fixed-income markets: the new administration’s policy agenda.
“The 2025 market narrative, certainly in the first half of the year, was almost exclusively driven by the incoming administration’s policy agenda; specifically, trade and tariffs, tax cuts and their fiscal knock-ons, the independence and leadership of the Fed, as well as how the U.S. sees its role overseas in an ‘America First’ world,” said Stephen Dulake, co-head of global fundamental research at J.P. Morgan.
The global economy and fixed income markets recorded unexpected levels of resilience in 2025, according to Michael Maras, head of global fixed income, currencies and commodities research at BofA Securities. Growing policy uncertainty and record U.S. effective tariff rates since WWII led central banks to 150+ rate cuts delivering the loosest financial conditions since Covid.
