North America

Chinese internet giant Baidu has met with a rapid flood of early demand for its Hong Kong secondary offering, which is expected to raise around $3bn.

Any fears about the resilience of the US corporate bond market were set aside on Thursday when Verizon Communications amassed a $115bn orderbook and printed one of the biggest deals of the year.

A selloff of growth stocks and primary market indigestion have taken some of the steam out of the booming US convertible bond market, but it remains open to new issuers.

L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp has bagged $250m from its Nasdaq IPO, as it becomes the latest special purpose acquisition company (Spac) focused on Asia to list in the US.

Secondary listings in Hong Kong got a fresh boost this week with online car marketplace Autohome pricing its deal and internet giant Baidu getting ready to roll out its transaction. More homecomings by US-listed Chinese companies are in the pipeline, but the number of viable candidates is shrinking, writes Jonathan Breen.

Coupang, a South Korean e-commerce company, scooped up $4.2bn from its IPO this week, after pricing the deal above the marketed range. It is the largest US listing from Asia since Alibaba Group Holding raised $25bn seven years ago.

The US Treasury is in the midst of a busy week, set to raise some $120bn across three auctions. Its first outing — $58bn of three year paper on Tuesday — was a success, but the 10 and 30 year outings on Wednesday and Thursday could be more of a challenge.

South Korean e-commerce company Coupang has increased the price range for its US IPO a day before wrapping up the deal, now putting proceeds of up to $4.08bn within reach.

The rise in US Treasury yields in reaction to the government's $1.9tr stimulus package has prompted a shift in equity markets away from highly valued tech stocks that may do less well if interest rates rise as a result of higher inflation. But if the switch means investor portfolios reflect the wider economy, that is a positive development.

Zhihu, China’s largest question-and-answer platform, has set its New York Stock Exchange IPO in motion.

European equity capital markets continued to reel from volatility across the Atlantic on Friday. A sell-off in tech stocks is making the block trade market difficult and a popular IPO suffered on its first day of trading.

Large US banks want the Federal Reserve to extend a measure allowing them to exclude Treasury bond exposures from their leverage ratio calculations. But other industry figures are pushing back. Senators have warned against the risks of letting temporary Covid support become more permanent.