Wells Fargo Securities

James Marriott is joining Wells Fargo in a senior debt capital markets role this autumn after he resigned from NatWest Markets, where he was head of DCM and advisory for financial institutions and sovereigns, supranationals and agencies.

The Federal Reserve made a hawkish lurch at its meeting last week and the consequences are still rippling through rates markets with just two SSA borrowers attempting deals in what could prove volatile markets.

Rating: Aaa/AAA

AstraZeneca, the UK drug company, showed the eager demand for merger and acquisition financings this week when it achieved ultra-tight pricing on a $7bn bond issue to fund its acquisition of US biotech firm Alexion Pharmaceuticals.

Metropolitan Life ended an almost 12 month absence from euros this week as the insurer raced towards what could be its busiest year since 2019.

Amazon grabbed headlines by pouncing opportunistically into the market and pricing an $18.5bn bond this week that included a record tight spread over Treasuries on a sustainability-labelled two year note, but the bigger story was inflation fears skewing the curve steeper.

Wells Fargo printed its debut sustainability bond this week, finally breaking its year long absence from the senior unsecured dollar market.

Green bonds took centre stage in the US corporate bond market this week, as issuance began to mount again after the recess for earnings blackouts. No less than three deals paired green and conventional tranches.

European banks began to access the dollar market this week following first quarter earnings, while JP Morgan stole the show on Wednesday with a record low coupon for a preferred note.

Bank of America sold a floating rate note over the Bloomberg short-term bank yield index rather than Sofr this week, as Morgan Stanley added to the post earnings rush in dollars.

Corporate bond issues came at a healthy clip in the US market this week, despite earnings blackouts, as investors showed a preference for highly rated paper.

Public Storage wrapped up a quickfire acquisition financing in the US bond market this week, after supply slowed to a trickle as huge swathes of corporate America entered earnings blackouts.