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Mashreqbank, the largest privately owned bank in the United Arab Emirates, is embarking on a roadshow to market a dollar benchmark five year fixed rate Reg S senior unsecured bond.

Gazprom, the Russian state oil and gas company, printed its $1.25bn 5.15% 2026s on Wednesday, with a book that peaked at over $5bn and with pricing estimated at 5bp-10bp inside its own curve, according to lead managers. The bond was the first from Russia in dollars since the US sanctions imposed on the country last April.

Gazprom, the Russian state oil and gas company, has released price guidance for its seven year dollar benchmark bond, offering a 15bp new issue concession, according to investors. Credit Bank of Moscow is also queued for a return to the international bond markets next week in euros. Russian issuers are re-emerging after some of the US sanctions were lifted last month, improving sentiment.

Theresa May may not have brought any further clarity to the UK’s Brexit agreement, but that is not causing any issues for investors and issuers in the sterling corporate bond market. On Tuesday, two more deals were priced: one from a UK issuer, one from a European.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Isbank will become the property of the country's finance ministry, in what a US-based investor said he saw as a 'further consolidation of Erdogan power'.

Demand for corporate bonds is strong but it is at its strongest for green and hybrid debt, especially for deals that combine both qualities. On Tuesday, Spanish utility Iberdrola found similar demand for green hybrids to that which Engie and EDP had benefited from in January, and market participants are starting to revise their issuance forecasts for the asset class.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has this week agreed to co-operate with the Bank of England (BoE) to ease disruption for UK clearing houses in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Nasdaq Dubai has entered into a licensing agreement to offer derivatives based on the FTSE Russell Saudi Arabia equity indices.

When the Western world returned to its desk after being glad to be rid of 2018, corporate bond issuers approached the market cautiously and bankers ensured that deals were sensitively executed. Those approaches brought successful deals and the market has not looked back since. As the Chinese calendar gets set to turn to the year 4717, the market is hoping that this run can be extended.

The head of the European Investment Bank lambasted the prospect of Brexit as “terrible” but insisted that the departure of the UK would not impact the bank’s bonds or affect its capital position.

After National Grid’s 16 year sterling corporate bond deal was more than six times oversubscribed on Tuesday and BMW found huge demand for a €3bn euro deal on Thursday, Volkswagen Financial Services tested the sterling market on Friday and found demand just as strong.

Russian state-owned oil and gas giant Gazprom announced the mandate for a new dollar benchmark bond on Thursday, just days after a well-flagged move by the US Treasury to lift sanctions on Rusal and EN+. Market participants hailed the move as providing a more “constructive” and “encouraging” environment for Russian bonds.