Euro

The European Central Bank announced on Thursday that it will bring its €2.5tr asset purchase programme to an end in December. However, the assertion that hikes to its deposit rate would not come before September 2019 lent the proceedings a dovish note.

The European Central Bank surprised some corporate bond market participants on Thursday by setting out how it expects monetary policy to evolve over the next year and a half.

KommuneKredit will hit the road next week to talk up a new green bond, while a fellow Nordic issuer is looking to enter the social bond market — although not for some time yet.

A French agency hit the short end of the euro market on Wednesday in what is likely the final SSA euro benchmark ahead of the European Central Bank’s meeting on Thursday.

The return to health of the investment grade corporate bond market has been a carefully trodden path, one step at a time. On Wednesday, French electrical components manufacturer Schneider printed a successful nine year new issue, following corporate deals with eight and seven year tenors on the previous days of the week.

The European investment grade corporate bond market is still returning to full health on a day by day and deal by deal basis. On Tuesday, it took another step forward as Austrian oil and gas company OMV sold the first hybrid bond for a month and found investors still favouring the higher yielding asset class.

While borrowers crowded into the euro market on Tuesday, investors were reluctant to commit funds only two days ahead of a hotly anticipated European Central Bank meeting.

Several issuers took new deals on the road in the second half of May and early June, but have struggled to find a window to execute their deals after the roadshows were completed. Recruitment firm Manpower met investors from June 6 to June 8 before selling its deal on Tuesday.

CPPIB Capital will sell its first ever green bond this week, coming on the heels of a French region’s foray into green and sustainability bonds.

SSA borrowers are streaming into the euro market, flooding the early part of the week with deals in an effort to secure funding before a slew of central bank meetings towards the end of the week.

French vehicle parts supplier Valeo opened the corporate bond market alone this week when it sold a €600m seven year deal ahead of what one bank described as “the most important macro week of the year”.

In a rare instance for CEE countries, Romania has printed 30 year dollar bonds.