Credit traders' kickstand: widening catalysts gather force with focus on financials
Credit markets are once again ending the week on a negative tone, having regained some posture over previous sessions following last week’s tariff-driven sell-off. Credit index spreads appear inclined to trade within a range, but potential catalysts for that range to shift wider outweigh any obvious reasons to return to the tight prints of last month

Credit traders' kickstand: Trump gives Europe the ghoulies as single B spectres haunt CLOs
Trade tariff terrors and things that go triple C rated in the night are top of the list of items spooking credit market sentiment at the end of this week

Ice seeks consensus with credit risk analytics service
Intercontinental Exchange (Ice) has launched ICE Credit Risk, a suite of analytics it will provide in collaboration with financial risk assessment company Credit Benchmark

High beta's time to shine in next leg of rally, says BAML
High-beta credits have yet to reward expectations they would lead the market rally in 2019, but this is about to change, according to a research note by Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Barclays re-hires credit structurer
A credit structurer in London has returned to Barclays after taking a career break from the bank

Short resets take CDS indices wider at March roll
CDX and iTraxx credit derivative indices are rolling into new series today, with short position resets taking the incoming series 31 of the Europe main index wide of where series 30 closed yesterday

US and UK sound post-Brexit derivatives regulatory accord
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Bank of England have issued a joint statement assuring derivative market participants of continued access to trading and clearing after the UK’s exit from the European Union

Generali seeks high yield analysts in Milan as credit research head builds team
Generali Investments’ head of global credit research has relocated within the firm from Paris to Milan and is seeking hires to build a team in the Italian city

European sub-financials shake-off Santander AT1 shock, outperforming senior fins and corps
Santander’s decision yesterday not to call a €1.5 billion additional tier one (AT1) bond shocked investors in the asset class. But while this may have been expected to bring a wider reverberation of pain, investors and strategists have noted a firming up of the European financial bond sector today

HSBC boosts single name CDS and index trading with experienced hire
HSBC has added a former index trading head to its credit team in London

Deutsche plots single name CDS return and index push with two senior hires
Deutsche Bank has made two senior credit trading hires to its London office, with sources saying these portend a revival of its CDS market-making business

CDS sell-off brings profit-taking opportunity for basis trade players
Profit-taking on basis trades between CDS and cash bonds has begun, with the strong run for credit markets since the start of the year having hit a bump yesterday

Ziggo CDS protection buyers get a lift as DC votes for successor
Holders of credit default swap protection on Ziggo Bond Finance have received a boost, with the EMEA Determinations Committee ruling that contracts structured under the 2014 Isda credit derivative definitions have a successor – dispelling fears they would be orphaned.

Credit spread improvement is calm before the storm, warn strategists
European and US credit markets have begun 2019 with a more buoyant tone than they ended 2018, but strategists warn that bearish factors still outweigh and suggest the overall direction of spreads this year is likely to be wider

Creditex obtains CFTC swap execution facility exemption
Creditex, the electronic brokerage for corporate bonds and credit default swaps, has been granted an exemption from a requirement to register with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a swap execution facility

Credit sell-off has room to run and pricing is out of whack, says BNP Paribas
The credit market sell-off could have further to go despite recent widening and is “in the process of a late-stage business cycle unwind”, according to a strategist note seen by Creditflux

European CDS index tightens inside US even as bonds languish
Credit derivatives markets have hit a key point of trend reversal this week, with the iTraxx Europe five-year CDS index trading inside its US counterpart CDX IG for the first time since May

Ex-Citi CDO trading chief joins Jefferies as head of European fixed income
Jefferies has appointed a former Citi European credit and pre-crisis CDO trading head to lead its European fixed income business

Market rout drives US/Europe credit convergence, as Brazil leads Latin widening
Credit spreads have sharply widened globally as financial markets are being rocked by concerns for a trade war and rising US rates. An equity-led rout in the US yesterday afternoon

Orchard hires former UBS credit index options and tranches global head
Orchard Global Asset Management has hired an ex-UBS senior correlation trader as a portfolio manager in London

Nomura hires EMEA flow credit trading head following departures
Nomura has hired John Gousias to head its flow credit trading business in Europe, the middle east and Africa

Mediobanca hires experienced credit trader to build out loan franchise
Mediobanca has appointed an ex-Deutsche Bank senior credit trader as head of loan trading

BNP Paribas hires global credit strategy head
BNP Paribas has appointed a global head of credit strategy and desk analysts.