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Following the international outcry over the forced landing of a Ryanair passenger plane carrying a Belarusian dissident, some emerging markets investors are said to have had sudden doubts about the ESG characteristics of Belarusian sovereign bonds. What took them so long?

Hedge funds have taken a lot of heat for their role in inflating order books and flexing spreads, only to flip out and take profits at the first opportunity. But despite the awkward and at times antagonistic presence of such funds, issuers are coming to learn that they are probably better off having them in the order book than not.

GlobalCapital will be revealing the winners of its Bond Awards on Wednesday June 16 at 3pm London time (4pm CEST, 10am in New York).

Active management, structural protections and refinancing have aided the resilience of collateralised loan obligations amid a challenging period for structured finance. The increasing embrace of environmental, social and governance factors in CLOs could aid the market’s recovery and future growth, says Ocorian’s Nick Bland, head of UK client services, and Kareem Robinson, client director.

In this round-up, Chinese president Xi Jinping has promised $3bn in additional support to developing countries fighting the pandemic, the State Council explicitly bans bitcoin mining and trading as part of an intense crackdown on cryptocurrencies, and Liaoning province is set to welcome a new city commercial bank.

Having come to the aid of Main Street stalwarts such as car rental company Hertz, video game store GameStop Corp, cinema group AMC Entertainment Holdings and diner chain Denny’s, it seems that US equity investors are now stepping in to help out that other pillar of American society — CLO managers.

Sovereign, surpranational and agency borrowers have endured a rough week in the euro market. Trust in the ECB’s support is flagging and inflation is threatening to return. It’s going to be a bumpy ride and issuers that can steer clear for now would do well to.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase’s $1.25bn foray into the convertible bond market this week may be a sign of cryptos going mainstream. But the sight of such a borrower raising vanilla equity capital was not necessarily something to cheer about.

Foreign ownership of Chinese domestic bonds has hit an all-time high of over Rmb3.6tr ($562bn) — an impressive number but one that warrants a much closer look.

Hong Kong's heat levels have hit 30 degrees Celsius recently — meaning it's time for junk boat season.

Spreads in the European sovereign, supranational, agency sector moved wider on Wednesday in the wake of the European Union’s deal with the Street accounting for most of the flows.But with Bund yields expected to stabilise soon spreads should consolidate, believed several traders.

The US Federal Reserve’s market liquidity measures have provided the fuel that has propelled stock markets to new highs. But its core mandate is to fight inflation and unemployment, not to line the pockets of stock investors. If the central bank is wrong about the “transitory” nature of the recent spike in inflation, then it must act.