Week In Review: Troublesome Tariffs (25 February 2026)

After the US Supreme Court ruled Donald Trump’s global tariffs illegal, Trump took another option to impose the taxes. Combined with global geopolitical uncertainty, investors sold out of risk assets and sought safe havens. US 10-year Treasuries rallied overnight, with yields dropping to 4.03%.

PGIM looks at the latest US tariff developments following the Supreme Court decision and likely implications.

Strong demand for domestic corporate bonds continues, and in this week’s lead article, Helen Mason from Schroders has written an excellent summary of issuance to date, assessing infrastructure and seaports, mining, and Tier 2 issuance amongst others.

One way investors are accessing higher yields is by investing in leveraged funds. Phil Strano from Yarra Capital quantifies what a downturn might look like.

I sat down with Flavio Carpenzano and Haran Karunakaran from Capital Group late last week to get a global and domestic view of markets. I keep thinking that investments are expensive, so one of the questions I asked was about the global market and spreads.

T.Rowe Price has released this month’s global asset allocation – the view from Australia.

We have two great articles about private credit:

1. Pengana has written a terrific one about the need for diversification.
2. Benoit Anne from MFS Investment Management asks, public or private?

Channel Capital and Wellington Management announce a new managed fund.

In Australian corporate bond news:

• CBA raised $1.85 billion in a three tranche Tier 2 deal:
  • A $950m 10NC5 floating rate tranche priced at 128 basis points over 3-month BBSW
  • A $300m fixed to floating rate tranche with an initial 5.632% coupon
  • A $600m 20-year bullet tranche with a 6.4% coupon or a 155 basis points over semi quarterly swap
• Charter Hall has mandated a new seven-year fixed-rate senior unsecured deal
• NZ power company, Meridian Energy, has mandated a kangaroo, senior unsecured green bond
• Mirvac has mandated a new 10-year green bond
• Vicinity priced a $500m 10-year deal at 5.836% or 123 basis points over semi quarterly swap
• Westpac raised $2.5 billion in a senior unsecured, dual tranche three year deal
  • A $2.25 billion floating rate note with a margin of 58 basis points over 3-month BBSW
  • A $250m fixed rate tranche with a 4.865% coupon.

Have a great week!