Coronavirus

Bankers hope a massive liquidity injection by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will help stabilise the dollar corporate bond new issue market after the Covid-19 crisis triggered a global market rout this week.

ECB president Christine Lagarde used the meeting on Thursday to effectively distance herself from financial markets, saying 'we are not here to close spreads'. Despite a number of 'smart ideas', the absence of monetary promises have caused credit and peripheral spreads to widen.

The Belgian region of Wallonia has decided to conduct the investor marketing for its euro sustainability benchmark solely over the phone rather than by attending meetings as the Covid-19 pandemic worsens.

EU supervisors plan to ease the regulatory pressures on banks during the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing them to temporarily breach capital and liquidity buffers to carry on lending to the real economy.

Emerging market bond funds are growing concerned about the lack of liquidity in the asset class as they try to position themselves for outflows after a torrid week of trading.

China Cinda (HK) Holdings Co priced a $2bn four-tranche transaction on Wednesday, paying a premium to reach its size target as the fast-spreading novel coronavirus, or Covid-19, continued to rattle global markets.

Global equity capital markets suffered severe hits this week, as governments scrambled to respond to an escalation in the coronavirus pandemic. But amid the mayhem, InnoCare Pharma saw an opportunity to launch its IPO, treating Hong Kong to its largest listing in about two months. Jonathan Breen reports.

Asian bonds showed some signs of life mid-week after markets collapsed on Monday. But that reprieve proved to be extremely short-lived, as another round of panic selling on Thursday left issuers with little choice but to put their deals on hold. Morgan Davis and Addison Gong report.

Spreads on bank bonds were sent shooting wider again on Thursday, caught up in further negative news around the Covid-19. But market participants are still unsure about how much of impact the pandemic will have on bank credit quality, with the sector already facing pressures over profitability.

Global stock markets have succumbed to panic in a violent and historic sell-off that echoes the worst days of the 2008 financial crisis thanks to the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, and equity capital markets are shuttered in response. However, ECM bankers are focusing now on the "other side of the tunnel" and rights issues for cash-strapped clients.

Members of the European Banking Federation have called on supervisory authorities for help through the ‘temporary struggle’ of the Covid-19 pandemic, asking them for looser capital and liquidity requirements and special treatment of lending impacted by the virus.

As the coronavirus advances deeper into the US and northern Europe, capital markets have had one of their most shocking and arduous weeks for many years.