Europe

French water and waste management and energy services company, Veolia Environnement, bagged Rmb1.5bn ($215m) from a private placement Panda bond issuance last Friday.

There are fundamental reasons for UK assets to be revalued upwards, analysts believe. The powerful majority achieved by Boris Johnson's Conservatives tilts the UK towards a Trump-like market-friendly, fiscally generous patch. But the reality of Brexit cannot be ignored for long.

The solid victory for the Conservative Party in the UK election has given investors a burst of confidence. But the rise in rates has proved short-lived and is unlikely to spark any supranational, sovereign and agency sterling issuance. Meanwhile, the outlook for the Bank of England has become slightly more hawkish.

Nerves in the foreign exchange market had been tense in the run-up to Thursday night’s UK election, with a rumour that Labour would win more seats than predicted sparking some volatility in the FX options market. But that was swiftly quashed when TV broadcasters’ exit poll showed a Conservative majority and brought volatility to a swift halt.

With a Conservative majority in Parliament meaning the UK will almost certainly leave the EU in January, attention turns to the transition period —market participants expect prime minister Boris Johnson to break his pledge not to extend it. Meanwhile, the UK’s financial sector now knows it will become less aligned to the EU, and bankers on contingent contracts could be about to move across the Channel.

There were audible sighs of relief on equity capital markets desks on Friday morning as Boris Johnson delivered a hefty Conservative majority in the UK general election. Bankers are now prepping for a busy 2020 and a solid UK issuance calendar. A state block trade of Royal Bank of Scotland shares is among the most anticipated chunks of business for next year.

The Conservative Party’s strong win in Thursday’s general election is thrilling the UK’s financial sector and business world on Friday. Shares in UK banks and house builders — the very domestic sectors seen as most at risk of a hard Brexit or weak UK economy — have soared by 10% and more, while bond yields, especially for banks, have tightened sharply.

Capital markets are set for a surge of adrenalin on Friday after Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party secured a thumping majority in the UK’s general election, removing a huge weight of uncertainty about Brexit. With hopes also leaping of a US-China trade deal, government bonds, equities and sterling will all move in a risk-on direction on Friday — the only question is how far.

Sterling is set to take a bigger slice of the socially responsible bond market as a result of a number of initiatives, including reforms that are putting the pressure on UK pension funds to focus on environmental, social or governance (ESG) factors in their investments. Burhan Khadbai reports

The Swiss franc bond market has been able to withstand — just — the destructive forces of negative rates and yields and is looking forward to a new year in which green structures are set to blossom. Philip Moore reports

Specialisation could define MTNs in 2020 as the market looks to differentiate itself from public markets where borrowers are easily executing large, cheap, liquid benchmarks. MTN dealers’ change of focus is shaking up the league tables. Frank Jackman reports

GlobalCapital has put together a series of charts looking at the financial institutions bond market in 2019 and beyond.