This page looks at the implications of investing in an environment where bond yields are rising from low levels. The left-hand chart looks at returns from 10-year government bonds during previous equity market shocks. The low starting yield on government bonds ahead of Covid-19, especially in Europe, made it difficult for these assets to provide as much diversification benefit as they have done historically. The right-hand chart looks at a measure called the "income cushion" across different credit benchmarks. The income cushion gauges a fixed income asset's ability to absorb a rise in yield before a year's worth of income is wiped out by capital loss.