North America

The US Federal Reserve is expected to cut its interest rates by 25bp on Wednesday, but investors are keeping a close watch on what the central bank says when it makes its policy announcement. Many are likely to be disappointed unless it hints at bigger cuts in the coming year.

The public is increasingly conscious of environmental challenges facing the ocean economy, and the capital markets are taking note. Industries using the oceans are numerous and fragmented, making allocating money in a sustainable way challenging. But some routes are open for investors looking to improve activities involving plastics, shipping and fishing. Jasper Cox reports.

Demand for euro covered bonds issued on Tuesday by Virgin Money, NN Bank and DZ Hyp has markedly improved from earlier this month, and lead managers have announced a further series of transactions from Royal Bank of Canada, SR Boligkreditt, Skipton Building Society and Liberbank.

US firms are turning to the convertible bond market in droves in order to issue cheap debt before a potential global economic downturn.

Chinese logistics company Best has sealed a $175m convertible bond, benefitting from a jumbo anchor order from Alibaba Group Holding.

Global Cloud Xchange (GCX), a subsidiary of India’s Reliance Communications, has filed for bankruptcy protection with a US court, and plans to carry out a potential debt-to-equity swap that could reduce its bond debt by $150m.

In this round-up, China’s industrial profit growth further declined, Chinese state media has hinted at more peacemaking gestures to the US and the London Stock Exchange (LSE) rejected the Hong Kong bourse’s acquisition offer in a strongly worded letter.

Mexican state-owned oil company Pemex found plenty of follow-through demand in secondary markets as all three tranches of its $7.5bn bond issue traded up on the break.

Minera México, the largest subsidiary of the Southern Copper Corporation, will hold investor meetings this week as it looks to join the slew of Mexican credits taking advantage of benevolent bond markets.

Yankee banks joined supply frenzy in US dollars this week, as they looked to take advantage of positive funding conditions.

In this round-up, both China and the US offered signs of peace around trade, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) rolled out 12 measures for further market reform and opening up, and the country’s top internet authority is tightening its control over online content.

The breakneck speed of dollar corporate bond issuance continued this week, with lower rated investment grade borrowers dominating investors' attention as they came to the market to lock in attractive financing rates amid fears the credit rally may run out of steam.