North America

FX and equity markets jump as a possible US-China trade deal is back in sight, Chinese president Xi Jinping promises more developments on free-trade zones and a registration-based stock system, and the Dubai International Financial Centre takes action to expand Chinese institutions’ access to the Middle East Africa and South Asia (MEASA).

Christoper Jordan has left his position as director of US private placements at Barclays in New York.

The high-grade dollar bond market got off to a flying start in November as oil giant BP, GM Financial, equipment finance company GATX, natural gas utility ONE Gas, and commercial real estate company Newmark Group all jumped at the chance of financing ahead of what promises to be a congested period. The release of US non-farm payrolls, US mid-term elections, and the Fed’s next meeting are all happening in the next seven days.

Investors poured cash into American Express as a stronger market tone underlined their willingness to put money to work on quality names despite an uncertain backdrop.

Representatives from European Union member states are debating the make-up of a proposed body to supervise clearing houses (CCPs), according to leaked documents seen by GlobalCapital.

CME Group has ticked off all of the regulatory approvals needed to forge ahead with its purchase of NEX Group, after the UK Competition and Markets Authority cleared the transaction on Wednesday.

Foreign inflows to China’s onshore interbank bond market dropped to Rmb5.1bn ($734m) in September, down 91.5% from the previous month, amid narrowing spreads between China and the US and slowing economic growth.

Financial services firm INTL FCStone pulled a planned $350m senior secured high yield bond offering on Tuesday.

Recent developments may help push the risk of cyber attacks onto the capital markets through catastrophe bonds and other insurance-linked securities (ILS). But investors are likely to be wary about taking on too much exposure.

Central banks and international financial institutions have raised a storm over vanishing investor protection covenants in leveraged loans. But most warnings about the market have avoided assigning blame where it is richly deserved — to the private equity industry.

Steven Nichols, who handled Southern Company’s groundbreaking entry into the green bond market in 2015 as capital markets manager, has joined BNP Paribas’s sustainable finance team in New York.

European Commission officials have played down concerns expressed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over a controversial EC proposal that seeks to revise European oversight of foreign clearing houses. The comments garnered a curt response from a senior CFTC official.