Top Stories

Barclays beat expectations in fixed income, currencies and commodities trading (FICC), according to its first quarter results announced on Thursday, which it attributed to a strong performance in rates. This helped to offset reduced fees for deals and an equity trading slump, as its corporate and investment bank seeks to provide the return on capital in the face of shareholder pressure.

Despite the roadshows crowding high yield bond markets this week, Netflix could not help but draw most attention from investors. Its $2.2bn-equivalent euro and dollar issue on Wednesday was increased and is said to have been three times covered. While the company has $10bn of capital market debt outstanding already, it owes more than $27bn long term to its content providers.

Cyprus received strong investor demand for its longest ever bond on Wednesday, with the combined order book for the dual tranche trade topping €10bn at the final terms.

French IPOs could return before the end of the year, with two large listings being prepared for as early as the second half of 2019, according to sources.

Société Générale has issued the first covered bond as a security token on a public blockchain last week.

An SSA/EM origination banker at Barclays resigned from the bank on Tuesday.

The UK Treasury is now seeking applications for the next governor of the Bank of England. Mark Carney will step down in less than a year's time.

Schuldschein buyers fear a further round of price tightening is nearing after Continental and Lufthansa both closed transactions that were three or four times oversubscribed. But as investor orders were substantially scaled back in both instances, some are considering inflating their bids to guarantee their desired amount.

Royal Bank of Canada said on Tuesday that it was looking at the euro market for its first green senior unsecured bonds, at a time when issuers seem to be more in control of pricing than investors.

DCM bankers are expecting a sovereign bond from Ukraine imminently, after Vladimir Zelensky, a 41 year old Russian-speaking comedian, won the country's presidential election on Sunday.

The Republic of Cyprus mandated banks on Tuesday for a dual tranche comprising new five and 30 year bonds, with the latter the longest ever bond sold by the sovereign.

A prominent member of the European Central Bank’s executive board has said that the institution will be keen on protecting ‘remarkable progress in lending to the real economy’ when it announces the terms of a new funding scheme for banks later this year.