Get out of cash, increase bond exposure: BlackRock exec.

Investors are always looking for new and safe investments during times of uncertainty. As the debate for when the Federal Reserve will finally cut interest rates rages on, many on Wall Street are looking at ETFs and bonds given their higher rates and low risk.

Steve Laipply, BlackRock Global Co-Head of Bond ETFs, joins Yahoo Finance to discuss the some of the best opportunities in the bond market for 2024 and what investors need to keep their eyes on.

When asked about Certificates of Deposit and whether or not investors should stick with them, Laipply offers this insight: "The Fed at some point, if you do believe what the market consensus is in the way the future are pricing they will start cutting rates this year... But it does look to be they'll start cutting rates, so it is a good time to lock in these yields now. You can debate whether them cutting rates will drive all yields down or not. But yields at 4% long term are still very very attractive relative to where we were before. There are a lot of ways to do that, you can allocate to the broad market through something like the Agg (iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF, AGG) or the Universal IUSB (IUSB) or if you do want a more active approach you can allocate something like BINC (BINC) our flexible income fund or BlackRock Total Return (BRTR). What we do know is investors have been cautious during this tightening cycle. They're pretty much significantly under allocated fixed income so we think it's time for them to start moving out of cash."

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Editor's note: This article was written by Nicholas Jacobino

Video Transcript

- More than $300 billion flowed into fixed income ETFs in 2023. A record there. Our next guest firm accounted for nearly half of that.

So where is the opportunity in fixed income markets now as investors step out of cash? For answers, we're going to bring in Steve Laipply, BlackRock Global co-head of iShares, Fixed Income, ETFs. Steve, it is good to see you. So maybe start here, Steve. As you look across the universe of bond ETFs as we start the year here, Steve, where do you see the opportunity?

STETVE LAIPPLY: Well, Josh and Julie, thanks so much for having me on today. We see tremendous opportunity. So last year when we had a very powerful tightening cycle, we had one of the most challenging bond markets in many, many years.

But the upside of that was to be able to get yields at levels that you have not seen since pre-crisis. And so it was a very volatile year last year. But in the end, interestingly enough, the agg as a rough proxy for the broad bond market returned over 5.5%. So

Where we are today is we still see this opportunity persisting. Yields are above 4%. It used to be that you would have to go all the way down into high yield to get a 4% to 5% yield before COVID.

And now, you can get that at the front end of the yield curve. That being said, we do think it is time to step out of cash. We think it's time for investors to up their allocation to fixed income.

No matter what, we think that it's the timing of this to be able to lock in income at these levels and prepare for the Fed to start cutting rates. And potentially for a softening of the economy, I think a lot of investors are still circling around this idea of a soft landing. But be that as it's time to start locking in these yields and upping your allocation to fixed income to balance your portfolio.

- And, Steve, just to put a fine point on this. If I can go out and get a CD for 5%, what's wrong with that at this point?

STETVE LAIPPLY: That still works. But the Fed at some point if you do believe what the market consensus is and the way the futures are pricing, they will start cutting rates this year. Big debate over whether that starts in March or not.

But it does look that they will look to be that they will start cutting rates. And so it is a good time to lock in these yields now. You can debate whether them cutting rates will drive all yields down or not.

But yields at 4% long-term are still very, very attractive relative to where we were before. There are a lot of ways to do that. You can allocate to the broad market through something like the AGG, A-G-G or the universal USB.

Or if you do want a more active approach, you can allocate to something like BNC or flexible income fund or BlackRock total return, BRTRM. So what we do know is investors have been cautious during this tightening cycle. They are pretty much significantly under allocated to fixed income. So we think it's time for them to start moving out of cash and topping off that allocation.