Fixed Income Preferences

I am trying to identify the best fixed income trading desks. I'm not looking for league tables or any of that BS. I want to know which desks you think are going to give a first year analyst the best exposure to different areas of the bank. How can one be the most versatile in the FI space? Also, which desks do you see growth opportunity, complexity, and interesting work?

Please be very specific if possible.

4 Comments
 
Best Response

What is it with posters recent hard on for "most exposure to different areas of the banks"--I'm not even sure what that means. Any trading desk for the most part will have the same exposure as every other desk. If you want exposure, do an amazing job and talk to a lot of people when they have firm wide receptions, analyst class events, social gathers, ect.

As for different desk, it all depends on what you want to do.

Your choices are: Credit-short term paper to high yield distressed debt. Distressed debt is much more analytical.

Public Finance - Interesting things are happening with all default fears and lots of local governments trying to raise money

Mortgages-A very interesting product area with risks and considerations that no other product has. Plenty of deals are getting done and their complexity is improving

Although technically under "rates" there is also UST

Emerging markets-covers lots of products but foreign corporates and sovereign debt are two of them.

It all depends where your interests . Personally, I think that mortgages or credit are probably the best product groups under fixed income just because every bond is unique, their will never be a shortage of distressed debt or housing, and growth opportunities are definitely in the mortgage space as most banks are operating at 25-35% of what they were pre-crisis.

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 

Heh, you're probably right there, but I genuinely want to be as versatile as possible. I have an offer now in Prime Brokerage, which resides in Global Markets (S&T). I feel like this role in particular may limit me, due to its lack of a wide foundation. What are your thoughts?

 

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"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."

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