FGL's RadioShack Losses A Manifestation Of 'Reach For Yield'

Earlier this month Fidelity & Guaranty Life announced its first quarterly loss in its brief life as an independent company (its IPO was in late December 2013), thanks to an $81 million gross write off on investments in bankrupt electronics retailer RadioShack. The latest issue of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer argues that this isn’t just a bad investment by one company. “Bull markets end at extremes of valuation. In the case of bond bull markets (again, bearing in mind the limited sample size), ending points are also marked by the metallic scraping sounds of conservative fiduciaries searching for suitable income-producing…