Bond investing wasn’t meant to be this interesting. At a time when equity markets are in turmoil, the allure of fixed-income investing appears to be firmly back in fashion.

Almost 80% of global fixed income managers outperformed their benchmark - some by up to 16 percentage points - in the first three months of the year, according to figures from data provider Camradata, which claims to possess Europe's most comprehensive asset managers database. Over the same period, global equity funds failed to produce any positive returns, with the best-performing fund posting bigger losses than the bond benchmark itself.