United States

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has granted full registration to 18 swap execution facilities (SEFs), upgrading them from the temporary registrations they held before.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange has bought an equity stake in Vest Financial Group, a firm that provides products to help investors hedge themselves using options.

Honeywell International has hired four banks to arrange its return to the European bond markets after a 15 year absence.

Markets opened with a more positive tone on Monday after comments from Saudi Arabia buoyed oil prices and the European Central Bank boosted confidence last week. But with many US bankers snowed in at home, EM issuers are holding back.

Falling oil prices and China concerns sent credit spreads to the record wides of recent years this week as equity markets plummeted, with a credit index options expiry coming right at the sharp end of the spike and adding to the turmoil.

The global sell-off in commodities and stocks has brought the US corporate bond market to a standstill, leaving corporate issuers unsure about when they can tap the market after the only trade of the week stumbled and AB InBev’s $46bn blockbuster continued to underperform.

The latest push lower in oil prices caused additional pain for investors this week after forced liquidations in two levered exchange-traded notes (ETNs) linked to the energy sector locked in losses just as oil prices marked fresh multi-year lows.

Lloyds Banking Group was the only FIG issuer to brave the senior unsecured dollar market this week as Wall Street’s biggest banks postponed their traditional post-earnings dash and issuance stalled at a seven-year low.

Talk about dry January. It hasn’t been the fizzy start to the year that European capital markets specialists were hoping for.

Veritas Technologies, the US software firm that Carlyle Group is buying from Symantec, will aim to complete a revised $7.4bn sale next week after failing to secure financing in November.

Barclays insists it can continue to thrive in Asian and emerging markets equity financing and equity derivatives, even while closing its cash equities businesses in those regions. It also wants to strengthen its core investment banking activity in Europe and the US.

A big MBS settlement and a continued slump in trading and fixed income, currencies and commodities businesses slashed net earnings at Goldman Sachs by 65% in the fourth quarter of 2015.