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In this round-up, China leaves the benchmark lending rates steady yet again, the central bank’s monetary policy committee gets a reshuffle, and senior foreign policy officials from Beijing and Washington fail to agree on key issues at a high-stakes meeting.

Last week’s horror slide deck from 13 first year analysts in Goldman Sachs’s investment banking division describing their working lives, or rather, their lives — they didn’t appear to have time for any other sort — caused a sensation. But other than satisfying the public lust for tales from the extreme end of Big Finance, what can the episode teach those in the industry, and those trying to enter it?

In this round-up, economists expect China’s GDP to grow at a faster pace than previously forecasted, Vanguard decides to take a step back from its plan to establish a wholly-owned fund management company in the Mainland, and Luckin Coffee pushes forward a debt restructuring and a potential equity investment deal.

Inflated order books are only becoming more prevalent thanks to the European Central Bank’s increased firepower. The way to properly deal with this issue is through a collective effort from every corner of the capital markets.

A wise investor once told me: when your taxi driver is recommending a stock, it’s time to sell. The idea is that once retail investors have spotted a big opportunity, it has already evaporated. What about when they’re playing it on the car radio?

The US consumer ABS market is in the middle of a balancing act, as investors cautiously look at indicators of further economic pain while also eyeing riskier assets in the hunt for yield, according to CSC and GlobalCapital’s annual securitization pulse survey.

As yields have collapsed elsewhere under pressure from central bank interventions, fixed income investors have increasingly sought higher returns in the esoteric ABS sector, according to CSC and GlobalCapital’s annual securitization pulse survey.

While it’s difficult to be positive on the outlook, securitization market participants expect only a modest increase in nonperforming loans in Europe this year, according to CSC and GlobalCapital’s annual securitization pulse survey.

Market participants expect European consumer ABS spreads to remain flat or tighten in 2021, despite the potential for these deals to reflect economic stresses and rising unemployment, according to CSC and GlobalCapital’s annual securitization pulse survey.

Covered bonds and RMBS secured on green mortgage collateral do not deliver issuers much of a saving over conventional issuance in those markets, but favourable regulatory initiatives stand to tip the balance towards an increase in green mortgage production. Secured issuance will be the best way to fund this activity — expect green RMBS and covered bond issuance to surge.

Investors have shunned carbon-intensive and sin sectors this month. The message is clear: if they want to raise capital, companies in dirty industries need to show they are making meaningful moves towards becoming socially and environmentally responsible.

International investors are set to get their first chance to buy a carbon neutrality bond from China, with China Development Bank preparing for a deal this week. This is encouraging, and shows the country is serious about using capital markets to propel its carbon goals. But the government’s credibility will remain in doubt unless it makes changes elsewhere too.