The EuroCP market goes from strength to strength. After a healthy first three quarters to the year, activity has exploded as issuers have flocked to the short end. This rush of issuance has taken overall outstandings to $315bn, a record high for the market, and for the first time outstandings have broken through the $300bn landmark. Over 500 more deals were closed in October than in any previous month and volumes were just shy of $165bn. It was an impressive surge that did not go overlooked. "October saw the biggest jump with central banks in Asia returning to sovereign paper," said John Ford, ECP product manager at Deutsche Bank in London. "Spreads between Eonia and Euribor widened, drawing in many continental European institutional investors in good size." Many dealers predict this trend will continue in November.
November 08, 2002