North America

Equities and investment-grade bonds are overpriced in developed markets, according to Tommy Garvey, member of the asset allocation team at GMO. The US-based investment firm has just slashed its exposure to developed equity markets.

Chinese travel agency Trip.com Group has closed the senior syndication phase of a $1bn multi-tranche loan.

The EU should further loosen bank leverage ratio requirements if it wants to avoid a credit crunch amid Covid-19, according to Michael Lever, head of prudential regulation at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe.

Burning Rock Biotech is planning to float on Nasdaq for as much as $100m.

In this round-up, China’s top government officials, including president Xi Jinping, discuss key economic targets and a fiscal stimulus package, and foreign minister Wang Yi warns the US against a ‘new cold war’.

Chinese internet giants JD.com and NetEase are targeting mid-June to launch their respective Hong Kong listings, according to sources familiar with the matter.

A quartet of SSAs borrowed a combined A$940m ($613.4m) into the Kangaroo market this week, spurring the SSA Aussie dollar market on to its best monthly volume in over nine months.

Jingdong Hua has seen his fair share of crises. In Africa when the Rwandan genocide happened, in the Philippines when the Asian tsunami hit, in New York City when the twin towers fell on 9/11, he now finds himself in Washington, DC at one of the key institutions the world is desperately looking to to lead it out of the coronavirus crisis.

Lloyds Bank decided to tender some of its covered bonds in three major currencies this week in what it called a “prudent approach” towards its liquidity base. The move could prompt more issuance in the asset class this year in an effort to refinance some of the tendered securities, but it could also decrease liquidity at the short end of the curve, given the cheaper refinancing alternatives open to banks.

Barclays has made Paul Leech and Todd Sandoz interim co-heads of global equities, after Fater Belbachir was hired by Citi.

In this special round-up on China’s annual Two Sessions parliamentary meeting, the government does not set a growth target for 2020 but raises the budget deficit to at least 3.6% of GDP. It also plans to issue Rmb1tr ($140bn) of special ‘anti-pandemic’ treasury bonds.

After nearly two months of persuasion, Mexican petrochemicals company Grupo Idesa received the approval of its bondholders to push out some $300m of international bonds by six years and give major relief to its liquidity situation.