North America

Comcast shone amid the corporate blackout with a $4.5bn M&A financing this week, as investors continued to show a strong appetite for high-grade paper despite a backup in rates.

The province of Quebec issued a A$75m ($57.3m) tap to its May 2026 Kangaroo bond, taking the total outstanding to A$435m.

In the heady days of 2004-2007, before the Great Moderation came to a shuddering halt, it seemed set in stone that European investment grade credit default swaps traded tighter than their North American counterparts.

OpenDoor Trading has completed a second investment round as it stays on course for an October launch. GlobalCapital spoke to chief executive officer Susan Estes about the firm’s aims not only to help revive liquidity in the US Treasury market but also to become the first US bond trading platform both majority owned and controlled by women.

Banks are set to get a big boost in their markets divisions in their second quarter earnings, if they follow JP Morgan's lead. The US bank, the first to report second quarter earnings, posted a profit increase of 23% in markets after volatility and volumes surged in the aftermath of the UK vote to leave the European Union.

Reporting on earnings for a chaotic second quarter, JPMorgan set a dulcet tone for bank earnings season, showing steady rise on profits in all but two of the banks’ units, and with group profit down only $90m from June last year.

OpenDoor Trading has completed a second investment round as it stays on course for a fourth quarter launch. The firm aims not only to help revive liquidity in the US Treasury market but also to become the first US bond trading platform both majority owned and controlled by women.

Chinese logistics firm ZTO Express is seeking approval for an IPO in the US that could raise up to $2bn, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The latest $1.25bn underwritten loan for the UK’s Melrose may look like a Brexit-defying success. But in reality, the firm is a lender’s darling and this doesn’t necessarily mean the gates are open wide for all UK loans.

Regulators have failed to consider the data challenges of their plans to impose margin on uncleared swaps, threatening a “tidal wave of new documents”, said D2 Legal Technology, a consulting firm specialising in legal and regulatory data management.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange will start listing Monday-expiring ‘Weeklys’ options on the S&P 500 index from August, taking the number of SPX expiries it offers each week to three.

Data firms IHS and Markit completed their merger on Tuesday, after shareholders agreed terms for a deal worth $13bn in which bond, loan and derivative services are key areas of focus.