United States

Equity investors are priming themselves for the US Federal Reserve to cut the Federal Funds Rate after dovish comments from the Fed’s chairman, Jerome Powell.

The US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank were jockeying for the SSA market’s attention this week, after the Fed governor hinted on Tuesday that the it might cut US rates. Investors are showing caution before wading into new deals

In this round up, the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) is planning to publish a list of ‘unreliable entities’, clearly echoing the US’s ‘entities list’, the State Council issued a white paper detailing China’s stance on trade tensions, and the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) said its takeover of Baoshang is a ‘one-off’.

In this round up, China floated rare earth exports as a weapon in its trade war with the US, May’s PMI fell across the board and the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) activated a fund to protect domestic depositors’ savings

MasterCard ventured into volatile markets on Tuesday to print its first bond since February 2018, but investors paid the price as spreads widened.

US utilities continued to dominate dollar corporate bond issuance this week, as defensive names piled into the market before trade tensions slammed the brakes on supply on Wednesday. But issuers fought back on Thursday.

A rough day for the corporate bond market on Wednesday did not bother Illinois Tool Works, which pressed ahead with its three tranche euro bond issue anyway. Focused on the yields, it did not mind paying higher spreads. Bankers said this was typical of the continuing wave of Reverse Yankee issuers.

Chinese e-commerce and tech behemoth Alibaba Group Holding is planning its second listing, which will most likely be on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Amid uncertainty and volatility from the US-China trade war, the move is being hailed as a long-overdue homecoming. Gina Lee reports.

Illinois Tool Works issued what could be the only European corporate bond of the week today, as the market takes what could be a useful rest after a week marked by a touch of indigestion and some jitters about international politics and economics.

Equity markets turned volatile again this week as trade tensions between the US and China escalated further, making accelerated equity sales more difficult.

JH Educational Technology will hit the road for its Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing after it completes investor education this Friday.

Chinese online tutorial platform GSX Techedu is fully covered for its listing on the New York Stock Exchange.