Americas

Activity in the US dollar bond market slowed to a standstill this week as earnings blackout periods kept corporate America on the sidelines.

Royal Bank of Canada is set to become the first covered bond issuer in Canada to join the Covered Bond Label initiative.

Wall Street banks celebrated a surge in earnings by flooding the dollar market with multi-billion dollar trades featuring callable tranches this week.

Sovereign issuers may have grabbed the headlines in Lat Am bonds on Wednesday, but the operator of Santiago’s metro system was certainly able to attract enough investor attention as it raised $500m of funding on Wednesday.

The Dominican Republic raised $1.2bn of debt on Wednesday close to its curve, taking advantage of strong demand for Lat Am credit.

Argentina had attracted nearly $15bn of orders for its latest dollar issuance by Wednesday’s close, as both investors and bankers following the deal said they thought the sovereign may issue more than the $5bn it initially planned to sell.

Two Latin American sovereigns priced dollar deals on Wednesday in what some were interpreting as a rush to beat possible volatility surrounding Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president on Friday. But if markets are worried about what’s round the corner, they’re yet to show it.

Donald Trump could end up being China’s best friend following his comments this week that the dollar is too strong. If the US president elect decides to engineer a weaker dollar, it would help solve China’s most imminent issue — capital outflows.

Pattern Energy Group is planning to print its first corporate bond this week with a $350m high yield offering that will primarily finance acquisitions of wind power projects from its developer-sponsor, Pattern Development.

Sovereign issuers may have grabbed the headlines in Lat Am bonds on Wednesday, but the operator of Santiago’s metro system was certainly able to attract enough investor attention as it raised $500m of funding on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Citi reported a boost in profit during the fourth quarter of 2016, propelled by increased trading activity in light of year-end political uncertainty.

One of the busiest days ever in the public sector dollar market ended with five issuers sitting on deals printed at the top end of their size targets and with pricing tightened from initial thoughts. Another borrower is already out for Thursday business and bankers predict that conditions are so “incredible” that deal flow will stay healthy into next week — no matter what policy statements incoming US president Donald Trump makes at his inauguration on Friday.