United States

Timothy Massad, chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has resigned, with Republican commissioner J. Christopher Giancarlo widely expected to take up the job.

Barclays pulled in $1.5bn for a 30 year senior bond as part of a four-tranche offering worth $5bn, as five Yankee FIG borrowers powered through the first global window of 2017.

High volumes of issuance have boosted confidence in FIG primary market conditions at the start of 2017, with bankers expecting flows to remain high until banks start going into blackout later this month.

In 2016, blockchain went from a buzzword to a ‘must have’ in financial markets, as seemingly every bank and exchange invested in projects and proofs-of-concept. But with so many asset classes having been promised big gains, 2017 begins with a dose of realism about the limits of the technology — and the challenges it poses for regulators. Dan Alderson reports.

The upending of global financial markets in the second half of 2016, driven by shocks from the UK’s Brexit vote and US presidential election, has caused a breakdown in previously dominant cross-asset correlations and a sharp resizing of event risk in 2017. Dan Alderson reports on a wave of structured product innovation aimed at navigating this new and more volatile universe.

Cross-currency swap markets face a rough start to 2017. Traders fear that diverging central bank policy, a shift in corporate borrowing dynamics and a repatriation of US money will all upset the basis at different parts of the curve. Dan Alderson reports.

The UK’s decision to leave the European Union cast extreme uncertainty over the economy, the values and even the unity of the country. Its ramifications for domestic companies’ financing capabilities has been both more obvious and more benign, however. Max Bower reports.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has given Goldman Sachs a $120m penalty for trying to manipulate dollar Isdafix and falsely reporting benchmark swap rates.

The US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has fined Igor Oystacher and 3Red Trading $2.5m for spoofing, but did not impose a jail sentence or market ban.

The European subsidiary of US commodity trader Louis Dreyfus Company has extended the tenor of its European revolving credit facility and increased the deal by $200m, though the borrower did not tighten pricing on the loan, according to a lead banker.

Första AP Fonden, the Skr300bn government buffer fund of Sweden’s national pension system, is planning to diversity its high yield allocation in favour of the European and global high yield markets.

The stream of dollar issuance from European non-investment grade companies may thin in 2017, market participants believe, as central banks in the US and Europe further diverge their monetary policies.