Americas

The new issue US dollar bond market roared back to life as volatility dropped and corporates took advantage of favourable conditions with $17bn of supply coming from 19 borrowers.

In the wake of Venezuela’s launch of petro, an oil-backed digital currency under the control of the nation’s central bank, a host of sovereign cryptocurrency products have emerged. For some nations, it is a ploy to circumvent sanctions but, for others, it could provide an important piece of future infrastructure for blockchain based settlement.

The total issuance of investment grade corporate bonds in February was an underwhelming €14.8bn but the property sector has outshone all others in 2018 and this week was no different as investors had further diversification to consider.

Six of the nine investment grade corporate new issues in the last week of February were announced with a three letter acronym that, while providing clarity, served to frustrate investors keen to see greater volumes of issuance. WNG stands for “will not grow” and this week told investors that the meagre sized deals would not be increased, irrespective of demand.

Insurance firm Chubb brought two tranches of senior debt to the market on Thursday, to raise €1.8bn in its first ever euro deal.

Baidu-backed video streaming service iQiyi and Chinese hotel operator GreenTree Hospitality Group are readying a pair of US IPOs for the end of March to raise a combined $1.7bn.

Latin American sovereign Mexico will be visiting Tokyo next week to update Japanese bond buyers, GlobalCapital understands.

Investor worries about this Sunday's election in Italy have not materialised yet in terms of having an affect upon fear gauges and hedging activity with both subdued, especially when compared to notable European elections from last year.

Before 2017, US crowd services provider Equinix had not issued a bond in euros. But it has now visited the European high yield market three times, having completed its latest deal on Wednesday.

Equity repo, a way to lend shares to the market, is a key parameter in equity derivatives trading but is yet to be fully considered and monetised. Given the opportunities that exist in the space, market participants would do well to change tack.

Emerging market bonds have been buoyed by several positives in key markets this week including a cabinet reshuffle in South Africa that has seen the return of respected former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, and the upgrade of Russia to investment grade by S&P.

Chinese video streaming platform iQiyi filed a draft IPO prospectus with the US market regulator on Tuesday. It is aiming to raise up to $1.5bn from its listing this year.