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Germany's Federal Constitutional Court (BVG) touched off a legal bombshell on Tuesday morning. It left the ECB in an impossible position: it can accept the court's verdict or ignore it, but either decision will undermine its efforts to stabilise Europe's capital markets.

The economic devastation has made an absolute mockery of predicting corporate earnings and therefore, equity valuation. Companies have given up on providing forward guidance leaving equity investors in the strange position of having to pick stocks without the earnings estimates that they have come to depend upon. Undoubtedly, this makes their work harder but it will also mean they must add to their repertoire of techniques for analysing companies. Many will flounder but a few are bound to shine.

A strong and growing deposit base, an active private placement market and sizeable proportion of prefunding has put the Pfandbrief banks in a strong liquidity position, the chief executive officer of the Association of German Pfandbrief Banks (VDP), Jens Tolckmitt, told GlobalCapital in an interview on Tuesday covering a wide range of other topics such as real estate values, the mortgage lending value and Basel III’s output floor.

Chinese bond issuers can feel a sense of relief that the country is starting to end its Covid-19-related lockdowns. But although the coronavirus might become less of a problem for these issuers over the rest of the year, an old enemy will again cause problems. US president Donald Trump is once again rattling his sabre.

In this round-up, China says it will hold its most high-profile political meeting in May after a two-month delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic, both the official and Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) slide in April, and the successor to failed Baoshang Bank launches.

Lloyds Bank has got most of its covered bond and senior funding out of the way already this year — ideal, given the threat of the coronavirus pandemic to both bond markets and the wider economy. But the bank has also been busy optimising its capital stack, which should support its lending just when it is most needed.

There is a huge amount of information to take in at the best of times in the capital markets. During a crisis, it can be overwhelming. So, each week, Keeping Tabs brings you the very best of what we in the GlobalCapital newsroom have found most useful, interesting and informative from around the web.

Caffil’s debut Covid-19 bond issued this week has shown that the moribund public sector covered bond market can play a crucial role in financing the response to the coronavirus crisis. The deal implies that the hitherto dormant public sector programmes many issuers have set up across Europe have scope to be reactivated to provide stable long-term financing for debt-ridden regional borrowers.

The coronavirus has made fantastical numbers commonplace in the corporate bond market. Everywhere one looks, results are being published that in any other time would herald the sudden collapse of companies. But you wouldn’t guess that from looking at the corporate bond market.

Lee Buchheit is a veteran of sovereign debt restructuring and is considered by many to be a world expert in the field. He has worked on debt restructuring among many of the emerging markets countries, including Argentina, Greece and Venezuela. GlobalCapital caught up with him this week to discuss the debt crisis gripping the EM universe, and how private sector creditors should approach requests for debt standstills.

Do you remember what it was like to work in an office? Blissfully boring. Those working from home now have to juggle work and personal life — and try not to turn their children into market-savvy scoundrels.

Whole industries are on their knees, desperate for salvation from governments. Moral outrage fills the air, as fortune's wheel turns plutocrats into mendicants. States have the power of life and death — but they must resist the temptation to play God.