TD Securities

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has a launched a new 10.5 year Kangaroo note on Wednesday, highlighting the demand for high grade names in that market.

With spring finally arriving in London, public sector bankers were warming up for an expected burst of dollar issuance as the second quarter kicks in next week — with a full rainbow of maturities available for the first time since the summer, writes Craig McGlashan.

The International Finance Corporation proved that there is demand for the tightest of issuers at the 10 year part of the dollar curve, after it printed a $700m April 2026 global green bond on Wednesday.

Issuers have nipped into the euro market after Easter with some canny deals. Meanwhile the dollar market was watching US Federal Reserve chairperson, Janet Yellen, who on Tuesday said that the possibility of further rate hikes was “not a plan set in stone”.

The International Finance Corporation is set to extend its green — and conventional — curve with its first 10 year dollar syndication for over 20 years, in what bankers suggest will be the strongest indicator so far for the level of demand returning to the tenor.

The sterling SSA primary bond market is set to have a record breaking first quarter in terms of issuance volumes, which currently stand at £12.25bn. There have been a number of notable deals from inaugural issuers and those returning to the market after a long break, but also regular issuers have achieved much bigger volumes. From the demand side, the breadth of participation has also been apparent, with the three big investor bases — central banks, bank treasuries and UK real money — all participating in good size. We look into the reasons why and whether it will continue.

With the dollar market taking an early Easter holiday, the World Bank came through as the sole issuer to print in the currency, hitting $3bn in an arbitrage trade that was heralded as a “strong signal” of the health of the dollar market.

The World Bank surpassed expectations by raising $3bn of four year cash on Wednesday, in what one banker away from the deal said was a "strong signal" for the dollar market.

Investors continued to pour money into the US corporate bond market this week as March's rally in high grade bonds turned the market positive for the year.

A trio of issuers in euros joined the sole dollar SSA benchmark deal this week in a flurry of pre-holiday activity, with a banker away from the this week's action remarking that the terrorist attacks in Belgium were likely to have a limited effect on SSA deals.

World Bank is looking to grab an arbitrage opportunity with a four year global bond amid a dollar market that already appears to be on its Easter holidays.

The World Bank last Friday printed in Canadian dollars for the first time in a year, seizing on strong sentiment following the European Central Bank's latest bout of monetary easing.