No. of Recommendations: 5
The thesis is that the massive capital consumption of AI data center build-outs has intersected the life insurance markets as insurance companies seek higher yields in the face of aging policyholders and longevity risk:
"“The biggest change in the technicals of credit markets over the last two to three years has been the emergence of U.S. life insurance companies as the largest marginal buyer...
A research analysis published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago found that life insurers had been investing more in “higher yielding, but more complex, private placements...
the public, high-grade bond market “has grown increasingly comfortable absorbing unconventional financing vehicles tied to data center growth.”...
Everyday investors, though, might in the future need to spend more time evaluating what they might have previously looked at as a highly straightforward market.
Those who turn to corporate bonds mainly because they want something with as little risk as possible might need to be more selective about what part of the market they buy."It's a bit incoherent as the article swerves back and forth between insurance companies and the general high-grade bond market, but it fits in with the overall thesis that fixed-income investments are gradually becoming more opaque, more closely tied to the vicissitudes of the market, and presumably less protected in the event of a bubble deflating*.
Gift link:
https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/who-will-pay...--sutton
(*my previous rant on this subject is here:
https://www.shrewdm.com/MB?pid=200009275 )
