North America

Europe's corporate bond market was firing on all cylinders on Wednesday. Three issuers launched deals, while others continue to fill up next week’s issuance pipeline.

The bookrunners on logistics company Best’s potential $1bn US IPO have kicked off pre-marketing, according to a banker working on the deal.

Chinese e-commerce luxury products retailer Secoo Holding is gearing up for a Nasdaq IPO that will be worth around $100m.

Banks scrambled this week to trigger credit default swaps on the back of Noble Group’s loan restructuring in June, after the Asian International Swaps and Derivatives Association determinations committee decided to dismiss the issue, a lawyer has told GlobalCapital.

Two Société Générale bankers have been indicted for allegedly manipulating Libor and causing $170m worth of damage to global financial markets, the American Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Thursday.

Two holidays and September’s European Central Bank meeting will mean the next two weeks will offer short windows for issuance, but the success of the two deals that priced this week will inspire corporate bond issuers looking at the market.

Derivatives counterparties in the US have made enormous strides towards compliance with the September 1 end date for a grace period on variation margin rules for uncleared swaps, a stark change from six months ago.

Six corporate investment grade borrowers took home a combined $3.75bn as the US dollar market finally took a breather for the summer after the breakneck pace of issuance for the month so far.

Two deals were priced this week in the European corporate bond market, and next week already looks busier. With a roadshow under way and four others coming up, the window before September’s European Central Bank meeting looks full.

High yield bond portfolios have been left dangerously undiversified under central bank policies, meaning investors have little margin for error, French investor Tobam warned this week, ahead of the Jackson Hole meetings in Wyoming.

Third quarter profits in Royal Bank of Canada’s capital markets business fell by 4% on Wednesday, a C$24m drop that the bank attributed to benign market conditions and low volatility.

The new chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Christopher Giancarlo, chose Bruce Tuckman to succeed Sayee Srinivasan as the regulatory body’s chief economist on Monday.