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Better late than never. After a sluggish start to the year, international activity in the Swiss franc market finally began in mid-week when Westpac priced the first Australian covered bond in Swissies since a Sfr200m National Australia Bank (NAB) trade in January 2014.

There has been precious little cheer in the dollar market but Anheuser Busch Inbev (AB InBev) provided some on Thursday when it printed the biggest corporate investment grade trade since October amid signs of improving sentiment.

After waiting nearly a month, US engineering firm Emerson Electric on Tuesday landed the dual tranche deal it roadshowed in December. The €1bn dual tranche offering was a good deal in its own right, but could also herald the return of the Reverse Yankee market in 2019.

French toll road operator APRR started its funding plans earlier than previous years when it sold a €500m nine year deal on Thursday. Its November deal was its only transaction in 2018, but even in busier years it has waited until May before getting started.

On Wednesday, Deutsche Bahn sold its first bond of 2019, setting the bar with a €1bn 10 year deal that has a new issue premium of less than the 20bp limit that triple-B rated names had failed to tighten past.

Telecom Italia attracted €4.5bn of orders on Tuesday, which was no mean feat, having to contend with a €4bn four-tranche Orange deal in the market on the same day, but also the uncertainty surrounding the Italian government and its budget hanging over the country’s economy. This, combined with the company’s Ba1/BB+/BBB- ratings, meant it had to offer what research house CreditSights saw as a 90bp premium to its secondary curve for the new 5.25 year deal.

Saudi Arabia's $7.5bn bond, issued on Wednesday, met with little resistance from investors, despite international condemnation of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi at the country's consulate in Istanbul last year. The lead managers built a $27bn book for the deal.

Yapi Kredi sold the first ever public additional tier one (AT1) bond from Turkey on Wednesday, which leads said would act as a benchmark for future issuers from the country despite the deal having been largely sold to the borrower’s shareholders.

French toll road operator APRR started its funding plans earlier than previous years when it sold a €500m nine year deal on Thursday. The company’s November deal was its only transaction in 2018, but even in busier years it has waited until May to get started.

When it failed to notify investors it would call its 6.5% hybrid corporate bonds in December, Italian energy company Enel said it still intended to offer noteholders the opportunity to redeem the notes at par via a tender offer. It confirmed the tender offer earlier this week, but it is difficult to see why any investor would take it up.

After a run of triple-B rated corporate bond issuance, A-rated names have returned to the market and paid lower premiums than the higher beta issuers had, but 10.75 years remains the longest tenor to date.

Saudi Arabia is expected to print large tranches for its new 2029 and 2050 bond issue but will need to pay up for them in its first deal since the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the country's consulate in Istanbul last year.