Yield Bets Pay Off for Traders Willing to Tune Out War Risks

Credit investors who gambled on higher-yielding corporate bonds are looking increasingly vindicated on hopes of a lasting truce.

Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

Those credit investors who gambled on higher-yielding corporate bonds in the midst of the Iran war are looking increasingly vindicated as markets rebound on hopes of a lasting truce.

The decision to buy bonds as Iran and the US exchanged missile-fire was always a high-stakes one. It required a belief that a spike in overall yields on the back of rising government borrowing costs would be enough of a buffer against a prolonged energy shock and the threat of inflation.