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French food company Danone received a strong response on Monday when it sold its inaugural social bond, the first from a corporate issuer since the social bond principles were set out by the International Capital Market Association in June 2017.

Finnish telecoms company DNA braved choppy conditions this week with a new €250m seven year bond to fund its tender offer for bonds due in 2018 and 2021 following a roadshow.

Spanish utility Iberdrola had significant success with its debut green hybrid bond in November when it received €3.2bn of orders. However, its second such bond failed to tighten from initial price thoughts when it was issued this week.

As the final week of the quarter approaches, credit markets are limping towards the Easter break, in need of respite after three months of heavy issuance punctuated by flares of volatility. Nigel Owen reports.

The auto finance arm of General Motors opted for short maturities to try to ensure the success of its first bond sale of 2018, but the €1bn dual-tranche deal only received orders of €1.7bn and the lead managers were only able to tighten one of the tranches from initial price thoughts.

Globalworth, an AIM-listed real estate investment trust focused on Poland and Romania, released initial price guidance for a euro benchmark seven year bond at 3.375% area, talk that a syndicate official away from the note represented around a 40bp pick up over fair value. The talk was later in the morning updated to 3.125%-3.25% with leads saying the deal will price in range.

The Kingdom of Bahrain has announced the only new CEEMEA bond mandate of the week so far, looking for a multi-tranche benchmark deal to follow its storming last foray into the international bond markets in September.

2018 has proven a difficult year for the IG corporate bond market so far. Instead of the smooth waters of 2017, conditions have been more choppy and issuers and their syndicates have had to navigate a more careful path to market and often paying more to insulate investors from secondary market volatility. However, there are likely to be more difficult conditions ahead with fewer support mechanisms available.

The wide ranging issuance of bonds from the CEEMEA market that has come to define the primary market in recent weeks has finally slowed, with few new deals expected this week. An investor in London said that enthusiasm for the paper was waning after book sizes had clearly dropped and new paper was underperforming.

The sole investment grade corporate new issue on Tuesday was a sub-benchmark seven year deal as weak secondary markets finally pulled the handbrake on new issuance. Some recent deals had struggled to tighten from initial price thoughts and issuers paused to take stock.

The auto finance arm of General Motors opted for shorter maturities to try to ensure the success of its first bond sale of 2018 on Monday. But the €1bn dual-tranche deal only received orders of €1.7bn and the lead managers were only able to tighten one of the tranches from initial price thoughts.

International condemnation of Russia, which stands accused of poisoning Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK, has not stopped the country from forging ahead with plans to raise money in the Eurobond market. Russia had taken orders of $4.5bn and revised guidance for a new 11 year bond and a tap of its 2047s by Friday lunchtime.