The GlobalCapital Podcast

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◆ How French issuers are responding to political ructions 

◆ French corporate, agency, bank and sovereign bonds discussed 

◆ French lender brings innovative European Defence Bond

French prime minister Francois Bayrou's decision this week to hold a confidence vote in his government is likely to be a key influence on European capital markets for the immediate future and possibly beyond.

We discuss how it is affecting t...

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◆ Why investors are piling into SSA bonds despite the tight spreads 

◆ Bank AT1 issuers spy chance 

◆ EDF pioneers in Kangaroo market

Benchmark bond issuance resumed across asset classes this week. In the SSA market, we investigated why issuers were able to build record order books for huge bonds when spreads are so tight.

We also inspected a restricted tier one deal from Allianz to see what it meant for banks looking to ...

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◆ Exclusive interview with Amundi portfolio manager, Jonathan Manning 

◆ Navigating fixed income amid tariff disruption 

◆ Investing at tight spreads

Yields are high and defying predictions that they will fall. Meanwhile, spreads are tight across credit markets with recent new issues pricing at or through fair value.

Then consider erratic US trade policy, the early signs of international investors abandoning dollar assets...

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◆ Wendel proves the summer market isn't just for the big boys 

◆ Trio of new issues show buoyant market for banks 

◆ Private credit's threat to the investment grade bond and loan markets

Both the investment grade corporate and financial institution bond markets this week hosted stellar new issues, proving that for certain issuers the perceived lack of summer liquidity is a fiction.

Wendel broke its usual issuanc...

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◆ Mexico throws Pemex innovative debt lifeline 

◆ Callable ZCs in vogue for public sector issuers 

◆ Why ECB regs update will drive insurance capital issuance

Pemex, Mexico's state-owned energy company, is a storied bond issuer. But lately it has been in a spot of bother. We explain what has been going and what an innovative bit of financing organised by the Mexican government this week — a P-cap — will do to ease t...

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◆ EU budget ambition to cement issuer status 

◆ French spreads 

◆ Finally, the European bond market's consolidated tape

The European Commission has launched what its president, Ursula von der Leyen has called its "most ambitious" budget proposals. They include a heap of joint borrowing to be done by the EU, cementing its status as a permanently huge bond issuer. We look into the numbers to see what it mean...

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◆ UK rule change cheers covered bonds... 

◆ ... as it shelves Taxonomy plans amid wider transition shift 

◆ Digital markets: what makes a swap smart 

The UK is going for growth and is making a regulatory revamp part of that programme. Chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves said this week in her Mansion House speech that "in too many areas, regulation still acts as a boot on the neck of businesses" and that s...

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◆ Stellar conditions for issuers across the bond market 

◆ How bond issuance will pan out over the rest of the year 

◆ Dedollarisation discussed

The relatively few issuers that took advantage of the primary market this week were well rewarded. US tariffs were kicked down the road once more meaning low volatility and so investors were happy to chase what deals they could find.

But is the market about to quieten down for th...

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◆ SSA yields bump up against US government curve with deficit set to spiral 

◆ Waning CEEMEA ESG bond issuance 

◆ Leaner, meaner SLL market

The SSA bond market has enjoyed its fair share of eye-catching relative value inversions of late. Last year, the likes of Portugal and Spain began trading tighter than France in the European government bond market, for example. 

But after US president Donald Trump got his budget voted...

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◆ SSA market faces up to escalating defence funding 

◆ Arms company bonds in focus 

◆ Slovenia's landmark SLB

As Nato members agreed — mostly — to ramp up their defence funding to 5% of GDP over the next decade, we asked the SSA bond market how it would handle the extra funding that it will need to provide for that end. 

Some Nato members don't even meet the old target of 2% of GDP, so this week's declarati...

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◆ Issuance abounds despite Iran-Israel escalation 

◆ European securitization regulatory proposals unveiled 

◆ A digital first for sovereign bonds

If you only consumed mainstream news, the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran — and potentially the US — might lead you to assume that such global turmoil would make it a bad time to be issuing debt.

But if you only observed the capital markets to the exclusion of all wi...

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◆ How can the EU capitalise on US mistakes? ◆ New US insurers head to euros  ◆ The greenest of green

The good and the great of Europe's capital markets gathered for the International Capital Market Association conference this month, and the overwhelming consensus among the speakers was that this was a rare chance for Europe to chip away at US bond market dominance.

But it won't be easy, with myriad regulatory ...

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◆ How worrying is Section 899? ◆ A summer of toil for public sector issuers ◆ Seesawing curves in FIG

The bland outpourings of ChatGPT could not be further from the penetrating, critical advice big companies, governments and investors want from investment banks.
But could one foster the other? That is the ideal banks are striving for with a plethora of projects to use artificial intelligence — not for the...

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◆ EU’s securitization plan leaked ◆ The first new EM sovereign issuer for years ◆ Who can be sued for climate change?

Interest rates coming down was supposed to be a sure bet. Now it’s not. Long government bond yields are rising, and not just in the US. Investors are worried — the term premium is climbing, which means it’s not enough now. It’s safest to stay away from duration.
We try to diagnose this que...

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◆ Capital markets' Bloomberg scare 
◆ SSAs tipped to go sub-US Treasuries 
◆ Jumbos devour credit demand 

A blip in Bloomberg's terminal services this week delayed bookbuilding on a number of syndications and bond auctions. It passed with seemingly little harm done. But it did reveal how dependent bond issuance and fixed income has become on the company's platform. 

We asked what would b...

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◆ What happened at the EBRD's Annual Meetings 
◆ Romania's new president and the fiscal fright that awaits him 
◆ Investors distracted from FIG by US corporates

GlobalCapital was on the ground at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's Annual Meetings in London this week. We reveal what was discussed and decided, from the bank's capital situation and US involvement, to its sup...

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◆ US gives further clues on MDB support 
◆ FIG issuers face funding choices 
◆ What's the point of the EU green bond standard?

We surveilled the SSA bond market this week and the development finance world to see what both made of US decisions about financial support for a number of international development funders. The result was relief but it was not unqualified, as we ponder what this may mean for US pr...

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◆ SLBs miss targets with hundreds more up for review 
◆ US issuers make hay in European sunshine 
◆ Banks probe longer dated debt issuance

The wave of sustainability-linked bonds that were all the rage a few years ago are now reaching the point where their issuers' performance against their environmental KPIs is being judged. 

Two issuers this week have failed to meet their targets and will pay higher coupo...

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◆ Insiders assess Scott Bessent's speech on MDB reform 
◆ European Commission's latest attempt to ease capital market access 
◆ Encouraging signs for credit issuers after tariff turmoil

The US administration gave some clues as to its beliefs on how the IMF and the World Bank should change their operations for the first time this week since president Donald Trump signed an executive order in February a...