Northern Trust Asset Management, the $1.1 trillion money manager, is betting against rates going much higher by loading up on duration in credit. The contrarian bond play involves buying higher-rated U.S. junk and investment-grade bonds, which will perform better if Treasury yields stay low.

"The most amount of credit risk you're willing to take and the most amount of duration risk you're willing to take—that's where the most positive spot is right now," Colin Robertson, head of fixed income at Northern Trust, said in an April 29 telephone interview. "That's where I'm going to get the biggest bang for my buck."

Other major bond buyers like JPMorgan Asset Management and BlackRock Inc. have shied away from high-duration assets—which were slammed in March when rates jumped—amid concerns that global growth will fuel inflation and push benchmark yields up. As rates stabilized in April, high-duration bonds rallied, pulling some investors back in. However, many market participants still expect rates to go higher, which would knock the debt again.