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US cruise ship operator Carnival Corp has announced that it will roadshow for a potential bond offering that would mark its return to the euro market after a nine year hiatus.

US federal regulators have approved a rule that will impose greater margin requirements on swaps that are not cleared through a clearing house, but have amended it to be less onerous for some transactions.

Fears that a disruptive weather pattern is forming in the Pacific Ocean look set to increase volatility in agricultural and energy markets, but the impact is unlikely to influence futures prices in the near-term.

Those syndicate bankers not away for half term this week were preparing for a pickup in corporate bond issues in the next two weeks, which could easily carry past the traditional Thanksgiving cutoff point for the end of the year's business.

Dutch residential property company Vesteda issued a €300m unsecured bond — its second ever — on Tuesday, the same day as Hammerson, another real estate company, was issuing in sterling.

European corporates have hit the market with a series of long dated private medium term notes, following a burst of MTN trades last week.

With the year's end fast approaching, SSA issuers are jostling for space after a summer blighted by volatility. Investors are rewarding pragmatic borrowers with large order books but it seems there is little room for opportunism.

Poste Italiane, the Italian state-owned post office, looks set to raise €3.058bn in its IPO, which has been completed against an uneasy market backdrop. Final pricing has not yet been announced, but looks highly likely to be €6.75 a share.

Covered bonds issued this week from banks in Italy and Portugal were a roaring success from the sellers’ point of view. But none could have been done without the European Central Bank’s help.

Borrowers enjoyed tight pricing in the US market this week, as a sharp drop in supply helped bring stability to the market and triggered a fall in new issue premiums.

European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said on Thursday he was prepared to cut interest rates and ramp up quantitative easing, creating a credit market rally that sent iTraxx Europe and Crossover indices back inside their levels before the end of September spike in volatility.

Equity block trade activity has picked up this week, after a six day lull, with a rash of trades helped by a stable stockmarket. On Thursday night, two trades were launched, after a buoyant afternoon for stocks since Mario Draghi, European Central Bank president, raised hopes of further monetary easing at a press conference.