At BlackRock Inc., PGIM and other Wall Street firms, bond-fund managers are sticking to trades that will likely pay off even if the Federal Reserve’s path is again knocked off course by surprising turns in the economy. The run-up to the Fed’s first interest rate cut in nine months has already supplied solid returns, driving the Treasury market to its biggest annual gains since the pandemic forced the central bank to drive its lending rate to the cusp of zero. But when Jerome Powell finally delivered the highly anticipated move on Wednesday, he underscored the need to balance cracks in the job market against the risks ... (full story)