Americas

China is confronted by what Japan went through in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s when it is accused by the US of dumping its products, a WTO official says

The percentage of those bullish on global emerging markets, especially for the short term, has jumped in a survey by Societe Generale

The Federal Reserve’s decision to go ahead with the third round of quantitative easing has boosted some emerging markets currencies

Royal Bank Canada has priced the first SEC registered covered bond in what is likely to be the landmark US dollar trade of the year. The long awaited deal was notable for the breadth of investor demand, its historically low coupon and exceptionally tight spread.

Four currencies in Europe have seen an unlikely outperformance since the beginning of August; but this will not last, a strategist warns

Data in some emerging markets are encouraging despite the global slowdown; investors should pick and choose, according to a fund manager

Encouraging noises from policymakers have given hopes to investors; Asia is still favorite among emerging markets

The stressed cover pool losses of Australia’s covered bonds are worse than those in core Europe, Moody’s first performance overview of the jurisdiction revealed on Tuesday. However, Australia still boasts highly rated issuers and impressive collateral scores.

The fledgling US covered bond market took a big step forward this week, after Royal Bank of Canada gained SEC registration for its $12bn covered bond programme. RBC could now bring the first SEC registered covered bond before the end of August.

The shares of Russian bank Sberbank may outperform Apple over the next 10 years if Russian reforms go ahead. But there are still clouds in the short term

Münchener Hypothekenbank’s debut dollar benchmark surprised the market and astonished the issuer, which had only envisaged a small private placement. MuHyp’s next benchmark will be a euro trade after the summer break, but though it is not originating new dollar assets the borrower has not ruled out another public deal in that currency.

Canadian banks have issued five benchmark covered bond deals so far this year with a total value of $11.75bn, reinforcing their position as the dominant issuers of US dollar covered bonds. Demand for Canadian covered bonds has remained robust and recently valuations have improved on expectations of diminishing supply. This fundamental value is a function of the strong credit worthiness of Canadian banks and the underlying mortgage collateral which is largely insured by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Canada’s national housing agency. The high quality collateral, along with CMHC insurance, gives US investors a lot of comfort and an ability to view these bonds as having minimal credit risk, almost as quasi agency bonds. And with US domestic market supply of agency bonds contracting, investors have had considerable cash to put to work.