Indices

• Produce research on and design index funds, ETFs, and related products
• Sample employers: JP Morgan (Global Index Research Group), S&P (Dow Jones Indices)

Economic forecasting

• Involved in forecasting macroeconomic variables and running economic scenario analysis for a financial institution (e.g. suppose X happened, what would tomorrow’s economy look like?) 
• Employers: major banks (JP Morgan, Citi, etc.)

Credit rating

• Analyze bonds to determine probability of default or expected loss from default
• Involves financial modelling, proprietary statistical models, accounting, interpretation of financial data and documents
• Types of bonds rated: corporate, public finance, financial institutions, structured finance, project finance, insurance, sovereigns, funds & asset management
• Major employers are the big 3 credit rating agencies: S&P (Global Ratings), Moody’s (Investor Services), Fitch Ratings

Research

• Macro research

Produce and publish research in public policy, foreign exchange, interest rates, economics, etc.

• Credit research

Produce and publish research in sovereign bonds, high yield bonds, municipal bonds, corporate bonds, etc.

• Employers: major banks

Fixed Income Strategy

• Monitor financial markets to get a sense of market themes, events driving market activity
• Develop research and market knowledge used to inform investment decisions and overall strategy toward fixed income products
• Communicate market perspectives to teams internally within the firm as well as external clients
• Employers: major banks

Stress-testing

• Run models to simulate whether financial institutions can withstand economic/financial stresses
• Design and develop processes surrounding firm stress testing; prepare stress testing results for external submission
• Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) and Dodd-Frank Act Stress Testing (DFAST) are stress tests conducted by the Federal Reserve to see whether banks have sufficient capital to survive economic/financial downturns
• Employers: major banks

Other job areas include risk management, commercial banking, insurance, corporate finance, private wealth management, and much, much more!