Macro themes continue to dominate fixed income markets, but investors shouldn’t lose sight of the idiosyncratic stories that are unfolding in the background. New Look, a British high street retailer, saw its spreads tighten dramatically this week after it announced a refinancing that should improve its credit profile. The company was bought… Login to Read

Many expect the European economy to perform better this year – not difficult, come might say – but recent spreads movements suggest the credit markets are sceptical. Since the index roll on March 20, the Markit iTraxx Europe has widened by 10bps to 65bps…. Login to Read More...

The seemingly never-ending saga around Greece’s EU status continues to drive macro sentiment, but credit investors have also had sector specific issues to digest. CDS in the TMT sector is often among the most active, but the past few weeks have seen several M&A… Login to Read More...

Asian corporates hold up during bond selloff The recent bond selloff in Europe and the US has led to corporate spreads widening, but Asian bonds have bucked the trend with long maturity bonds… Login to Read More...

A weekend has passed since the UK’s general election, allowing time for investors to digest last Thursday’s surprising result. The victory confounded opinion polls, which had suggested another hung parliament. This uncertainty leading up to the election resulted in an increased level of volatility in the markets…. Login to Read More...

It wasn’t so long ago – in fact, less than three weeks ago – that the big story in European financial markets was very low, or even negative, government bond yields. Germany’s 10-year bunds were trading below 0.05% in mid-April, while bonds in the eurozone’s periphery were quoted at significantly lower yields than the US…. Login to Read

Low interest rates have helped fuel M&A activity, so it is no surprise that several large transactions have been announced in recent months. But it’s not always the market that determines deals. Governments and regulatory bodies also have a part to play, as we saw with the collapse of the Comcast bid for Time Warner Cable…

Earnings season has started strongly with most firms beating expectations, but Greece’s uncertain status within the eurozone continues to dampen positive momentum. The latter part of the last sentence is all too familiar to market participants,… Login to Read More...

European corporate credit risk shrinking ITRAXX-Europe 5-yr spread lowest since December 2007 Volatility in Europe’s credit markets has dropped since QE announcement European markets unfazed by neighbouring Greek and Ukraine problems…. Login to Read More...

The macro picture has dominated the credit markets in recent months, but the low interest rate environment is creating conditions ripe for M&A activity and single name stories. This week saw FedEx buy Dutch rival logistics firm TNT Express for an agreed… Login to Read More...