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On Tuesday, Italgas was the latest issuer to benefit from the lack of corporate bond supply so far in 2018. Investors, starved of paper, have caused order books to be multiple times oversubscribed and issuers have benefitted from tight pricing as a result.

On Monday, Italian tyre company Pirelli returned to the bond market for the first time since its IPO. With no other investment grade deals in the market, the new five year transaction saw strong investor demand and 40bp of tightening from initial price thoughts.

Property developer Sino-Ocean Group Holdings is set to return to the Panda bond market with a Rmb3bn ($467.9m) three year trade — its first Panda since its debut in the asset class last March.

China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) insists that the counter-cyclical factor remains in place, the Chinese central bank introduces a new limit on cross-border financing for commercial banks, and China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) reportedly cracks down on risky private bond issuance.

Ford Automotive Finance (China) started the year in China’s asset-backed securities market by selling a Rmb4bn (Rmb618.3m) deal on Thursday. The deal was open to foreign investors, but onshore demand formed the core support for Ford’s sale, sources on the deal told GlobalRMB.

China’s FX watchdog tells corporates to prepare for more volatility in the RMB exchange rate, the chief of China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) criticises illegal activities in the banking sector, and a domestic Chinese credit rating agency moves US sovereign rating as a result of the recent tax cut.

It’s hard to fault the support the euro market has offered rates borrowers in the past week. Executions have been smooth, books well-filled and new issue premiums skinny. But, with ever more hawkish signals from the European Central Bank and steepening yield curves, the future does not look so rosy for borrowers. The balance of pricing power seems likely to shift in favour of investors.

Fibabanka has launched its $300m five year senior unsecured bond at 6%, with leads having built a book of just under $500m for the bond, which had been postponed from October.

Barclays rolled out sweeping cuts to its investment bank on Wednesday, with around 100 jobs gone across the business, including several managing directors in the EMEA primary bonds business.

Promoting RMB internationalisation is necessary for China to safeguard its national security, Anthony Leung, chairman and CEO of Nan Fung Group and former financial secretary of Hong Kong, told the Asian Financial Forum on January 16.

Fibabanka has restarted a dollar bond issue that it postponed last year.

PhosAgro, a Russian phosphate-based fertiliser company, has released price guidance for a $500m 5.25 year bond that a banker away from the deal and an investor are calling “fair”.