United States

Randal Quarles, the head of global regulator the Financial Stability Board, warned on Thursday that cryptocurrencies and increasing fragmentation of financial markets carried the greatest threats to market stability.

The fourth quarter began on a rocky note for global equities but the US high grade bond market has shrugged off concerns about stalling growth and issuance conditions remain strong.

Three Chinese companies joined the queue to list in the US within the past week. Youdao, an online education platform founded by Chinese technology company NetEase, is planning the largest of the IPOs, seeking up to $300m.

Hong Kong SAR’s equity capital market has come back to life recently with a handful of well-received IPOs. A further boost is also likely if the US goes ahead with its threat of banning Chinese listings on its exchanges, writes Jonathan Breen.

Credit Suisse has found one way to deal with low interest rates in Europe: switch into another currency. The Swiss bank has conjured up an extra Sfr250m ($250m) of net interest income (NII) per year from changing how it hedges the capital to meet its operational risk.

Contrary to growing fears of an impending recession, Fisch Asset Management believes that the global economy is in a “Goldilocks” period and recession is a distant prospect. But as a result, Fisch believes the SSA market is in “one of the biggest bubbles” it has experienced and faces a “quick and strong” correction.

Youdao, an online education platform founded by Chinese technology giant NetEase, is planning an IPO of American Depository Shares (ADS), having filed a draft prospectus with the US regulator.

Delta, the US airline, announced last week that it had struck a deal with LATAM, the largest airline in Latin America, in a deal which it expects to finance in the bond market.

Chinese health and wellness solutions provider Ecmoho is planning to float on the Nasdaq and is targeting proceeds of up to $150m.

In this round-up, the US and China set a date for the next round of negotiation in Washington DC, MUFG and Mizuho receive approval to underwrite onshore Chinese bonds and China’s industrial profits growth edges down in August.

Charles Scharf will take over as chief executive and president of Wells Fargo next month, ending a six month period when an interim boss was in charge. Scharf comes from Bank of New York Mellon.

In this round-up, China and the US upped the ante on the rhetorical trade war, the Ministry of Finance transferred its shares in two state-owned banks to a national social security fund and the Hangzhou city government is sending 100 of its staff to private companies.