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Republic of Poland’s €1.75bn dual tranche market reopener underperformed on the break on Tuesday. The deal drew criticism for printing too tight and too wide, based on which comparable was used, but the Polish Ministry of Finance called the note a success.

Five issuers from core Europe priced covered bonds this week but the standout success, which could have been priced without the European Central Bank’s help, was the first Austrian deal of the year from Erste Bank.

On Thursday, Glencore and Trafigura announced themselves as the first commodity traders to launch their refinancing efforts. But the duo’s coincidental launches revealed dissimilar funding plans, which might signal greater divergence in paths for the traders in 2016.

Two deals from Poland and Slovakia this week showed how emerging market borrowers and their bankers need to come up with new ways to price CEE bonds, and fast. With European quantitative easing distorting secondary prices to the point of uselessness, deals should now factor in a ‘liquidity premium’, writes Virginia Furness.

Plans to create a new tier of debt in France has put minds at ease about the status of existing senior bonds, bolstering their performance and clearing the way for what could be a very busy year for French banks.

The Iberian Peninsula was host to a duo of barnstorming sovereign benchmarks this week, but there was no consensus among bankers over whether they signified an appetite for sovereigns at the lower end of the European credit quality spectrum.

If European credit investors had to name two firms damaged by the precipitous fall in commodity prices, it is likely that Glencore and Anglo American would top the poll.

Investor positioning and the composition of market flows this week suggest two things about returns over the near term: a sharp intraday sell-off like that in August is less likely, but so is a healthy rebound if Chinese catalysts fade from view, said analysts this week.

Scandinavian Tobacco, the manufacturer of cigars and pipe tobacco, launched its all secondary initial public offering on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange on Thursday, with the release of an intention to float statement.

EPH — Markit — BankDhofar — Tele2 — Infinitas — LGC

Puma Energy, an oil and gas distributor and retailer headquartered in Singapore, on Wednesday sold the first ever Euro private placement to be denominated in dollars.

Euro issuance had been subdued this week, with issuers reluctant to clash with AB InBev's $46bn deal, but it picked up hours before the brewer's launch on Wednesday.