The pain that negative rates in dollars could cause money market funds hangs like an albatross around the US Federal Reserve’s neck. Talk of them has picked up over the last week as US Federal Funds Futures prices started to imply they were on their way, while president Donald Trump pushed the topic on Twitter, even though and Fed chair Jerome Powell appeared to rule them out.

The Norges Bank surprised the market with an unexpected base rate cut to a record low of zero on Thursday. Since the start of the year, coronavirus volatility and wildly gyrating oil prices have buffeted the value of the kroner.

Since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, Finland has found a novel way to meet its increased funding needs: private placements. Over the last six weeks, the sovereign has supplemented its regular auctions with €5.65bn of privately placed trades, issuing private debt off its benchmark bond programme for the first time ever.

The European Central Bank’s press conference on Thursday did not provide the headline fireworks that its last meeting did. The sombre tone caused “disappointment” among investors and a slight widening of peripheral spreads. SSA issuers were also left dissatisfied with the bank’s lack of support for the money markets.

The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia made its first visit to the offshore renminbi market earlier this week, continuing this year’s SSA dim sum shopping spree.

The ECB has, despite an early gaffe, decided that it is its job to close spreads after all — and for the most part, it is excelling in its task. But its attention is focused on the bond market and, as a result, those who rely on the money markets for short term funding are suffering.

A slide in euro and dollar MTN volumes has given Scandinavian banks the chance to propel themselves up the MTN leader board.

The Asian Development Bank has become the first public sector issuer to tap the Canadian dollar market to fund its coronavirus response. In the days since the deal was placed, the value of the Canadian dollar has mirrored the rapid decline in the price of oil, which some bankers fear could put off future non-domestic issuers visiting the market.

The European Central Bank’s purchase programme will do little to aid agencies in raising cash in the commercial paper market, making little difference to rising borrowing costs and expanding programmes, according to Jérôme Margerin, head of short-term funding at ACOSS, one of Europe’s largest non-sovereign CP issuers.

Syctom, a French metropolitan agency responsible for household waste management in the Île-de-France region, printed its debut bond at the end of last week, selling a green bond that will go towards funding sustainable waste management projects in the Paris region.

Danish agency KommuneKredit made one of its infrequent visits to the Swedish kronor market on Wednesday. With many issuers preferring the short end of the market due to volatility from the coronavirus pandemic, the agency instead opted to tap a pocket of demand at the long end of the curve.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) tapped the Indonesian rupiah market for its latest Covid-19 response bond this week, becoming the first SSA to print a response bond in an emerging market currency.