Europe

Italy’s 10 year yield dropped to its lowest level in almost two months this week, after the country’s top government officials suggested they could target a budget deficit as low as 2% in 2019.

Edenred, the French operator of employee benefit schemes, discovered on Thursday that investors still have cash to put to work in the corporate bond market, even though eight deals had been priced in the first three days of the week and the end of the year is in sight.

VTB Capital has no interest in adopting blockchain technology for banking, said Dmitry Snesar, VTB’s head of client coverage, at VTB Capital’s Russia Calling conference in Moscow this week.

Shares and bonds of UK holidays operator Thomas Cook took a beating this week, after it reported low earnings and high net debt, which it blamed on weak local demand and currency effects. But investors saw the company as a victim of poor management, rather than domestic Brexit turbulence.

Bankers love to advise their clients to look at the bigger picture and print now, for fear that that in just a few weeks or months, they could be facing a much tougher time. So the chorus of DCM officials criticising Russia for its timing in selling a €1bn seven year bond this week is more than a little hypocritical.

UK investors that buy US private placements often struggle to compete with North American investors on price, but their disadvantage could be made worse by Brexit, if, as expected, sterling bond spreads widen.

Trade body the Futures Industry Association (FIA) on Tuesday released recommendations on how to shore up clearing house (CCP) risk management processes in the wake of a €114m member default at Nasdaq Clearing in September.

Borealis, the Austrian petrochemicals maker, sold its largest corporate bond tranche on Wednesday. The deal came two days after Austrian oil and gas company OMV, which owns more than a third of Borealis, had issued its own dual tranche deal.

Ice Group, the Norwegian telecoms company, hit the road with a Nkr3bn ($351.4m) Oslo Bors IPO on Tuesday, which it hopes will give it the funds to break the country’s telecoms duopoly.

Jyske Bank came to the market on Wednesday with its first senior non-preferred bond denominated in euros, as it seeks to transition away from senior preferred issuance to meet its minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL).

Crédit Agricole came to what one banker called an "apathetic" market on Wednesday with a senior preferred issue from its new green bond framework, but did not have to offer a large premium to sell €1bn of notes.

UniCredit found a single investor willing to buy $3bn of its non-preferred senior notes at a coupon rate of 7.83% this week, as the bank pulled out all the stops in an effort to comply with its interim target for total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC).