Europe

Vaduz-based Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) kicked off Swiss franc bond issuance after an investor lunch in Zurich on Monday with its debut Sfr150m seven year senior preferred.

The US was set to raise tariffs on $200bn of Chinese goods, as GlobalCapital went to press, after talks between the two economic powers appeared to break down. Few people predicted it, most having prematurely stopped worrying about the US-China trade war and its impact on markets.

The World Bank printed its second Sonia linked note on Wednesday as part of efforts to build its Sonia curve. The supranational has now sold over £2.5bn of Sonia paper across two benchmark bonds since September 2018.

Global equity markets suffered their worst days of the year this week after an apparent breakdown in trade talks between the US and China, causing investors to sell and volatility to spike and possibly wrecking equity issuance plans, write Sam Kerr and Ross Lancaster.

Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group kept the sterling covered bond market busy this week with Sonia-linked trades that drew strong demand and were priced with no new issue premium.

European corporate bond investors showed they were hungry for paper on Thursday, despite the gloom infecting equity markets this week about the prospect of a restart to the China-US trade war. A flurry of issuers came to the market, hot from roadshows, and got plenty of over-subscription while slashing their spreads by 20bp to 30bp.

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Hamburg Commercial Bank is looking to land a debut senior bond in the euro market in May, hoping to open a new chapter in the history of the restructured HSH Nordbank. But the institution may find it difficult to move on, with a group of influential investors angry over previous management decisions threatening to derail the deal.

Ireland set a new order book record when it issued a curve-extending long 30 year bond on Thursday.

US fund manager BlackRock has pulled the plug on a rescue deal for ailing Italian bank Carige, setting the stage for a difficult political argument over whether to approve yet another costly government bailout.

UniCredit provided details of its intention to strengthen its balance sheet further on Thursday, as it produced a well-received set of earnings results.

The Turkish lira this week tumbled to levels it had not seen since last October’s economic crisis after Turkey’s electoral commission (YSK) annulled the results of Istanbul’s municipal elections that had been won by the opposition. Investors said they are concerned that economic reforms will be put on hold and are worried that higher interest rates will prolong the country’s recession.