Rising stars vie with swooping hawks as Fed deliberates
Rising star companies moving from high yield to investment grade could be a valuable source of returns for credit investors in coming months, say sources

US spreads narrow gap with Europe as credit hits new record tights
Corporate credit spreads are exploring new tights for the year, with Europe taking its turn to grind inwards once again today after strong sessions in Asia earlier and the US on Tuesday

Crossover names drive rally on strong earnings as European traders return
Several high yield borrowers have made strong improvements on Tuesday as the post-Jackson Hole credit market rally has extended from Friday, with European traders returning after their long weekend

Retailer jumps on PE rumours while markets stay rooted in Jackson Hole
UK supermarket retailer Sainsbury's has been a notable mover in credit this week, as the wider market waits tentatively on Friday's Jackson Hole movement in the US and fund outflows signal nervousness about US Federal Reserve policy and escalating turmoil in Afghanistan

Chinese credit makes gains as Europe and US slump on Fed taper fears
Chinese credit spreads on Thursday depicted an island of optimism as global credit and stocks - including its own - slumped against a mounting confluence of concerns

Travel co among underperformers as credit gives up gains
European credit is softening away from its recent tights in what is shaping up to be a fourth week of range-bound trading, with credit strategists identifying valuations as a key obstacle to improvement at the index level

Lingering covid vies with inflation as top credit threat, finds BofA
Covid-19 lingering is catching up with inflation as credit investors' number one worry, Bank of America's August survey has found. The picture for central bank purchases is bullish, but strategists see industrial and bank senior bonds as shorts for contrarians over the summer

High yield real estate firm pushes tighter on ratings boost
Adler Real Estate credit spreads are driving ever tighter, with positive signals from rating agency S&P adding to the company’s strong bull run, despite softening in the wider high yield market

German real estate firm on bull run as rest of high yield treads water
Adler Real Estate has extended its spread tightening run on Monday morning, making it one of the biggest improvers of the past week in an otherwise flattish high yield credit market

Goldman builds out exotics strategy amid tranche market high
The index tranche market is gaining support, with Goldman Sachs adding to those building up their presence, officials at the bank confirm

Broadening SRT market defies spread compression
Credit spreads are close to all time tights — high yield, courtesy of CDX HY, recently hit its tightest level since January 2007 — but the significant risk transfer (SRT) market is one of the few pockets of credit where pricing is wide of pre-covid levels

China teaches tough lessons to foreign investors
China’s regulatory crackdown on some of its fastest-growing industries created shockwaves that have reverberated widely, dragging on US and European credit at the end of July.

Coronavirus delta dilemma puts reflation trades into reverse
Concern over the covid-19 delta variant dented investor optimism in July and looks set to hold back credit spread improvement in August, as focus turns to rising cases in the US and Germany

Fund performance: long-short funds challenge CLO strategies
CLO funds are maintaining their stranglehold on our top 10, but long-short credit funds are giving them a run for their money

Credit hedge funds (August 2021)
Credit hedge fund returns

Ucits at a glance: mid market fund leaps into top four
The majority of Ucits funds end Q2 on a high note as 76% of those in our database recorded positive performance in June

US plays catch up with Europe as spreads reconverge
There has been a slight softening of European credit on Tuesday, even as stocks hold onto their record highs and US credit spreads take their chance to close the gap after recent underperformance

Rising stars will fuel double B boom, says BofA
A rising star cycle is underway and adds to a bullish outlook for double B credits with company results pointing to an ‘epic V-shaped recovery’ in high yield revenues and earnings, say Bank of America credit strategists

Triple Bs gain momentum as IG buyers pick best spots
The absolute tightness of credit spreads has led many to lament their chances of delivering strong returns in 2021, while stressing the need to move down either the quality or duration curve. But even within investment grade, European and US managers are still finding pockets of value

Publishing boost for French firm but China sours wider market
Lagardere is a notable positive outlier in another off day for the credit market, after China turmoil rocked stocks and sent spreads wider

China crackdown and Fed meeting rattle nerves
Credit spreads widened as financial markets began the week on a less certain footing amid panic stock selling in China and a retreat to treasuries ahead of the US Federal Reserve two-day monetary policy meeting

It's all relative: IG index drifts wide of 50bp as European CLO triple Bs outperform
US investment grade credit has been an underperformer in the last few weeks with CDX IG trading north of 50 basis points again. But European CLO triple Bs are looking strong while there is a stronger bid for two- to three-year paper in the US

Credit Rendezvous: And breathe...
The unanimous verdict is that credit spreads will be moving wider – they have to. But the difficulty credit fund managers face is predicting when the next sell-off comes and how sharp it will be. In the Q3 instalment of Creditflux’s Credit Rendezvous, the over-riding message from portfolio managers is that there’s little point in taking on too much risk. The report features the views of prominent credit figures including Paul Horvath (Orchard), Himani Trivedi (Nuveen), Ronnie Jaber (Onex), Graham Rainbow (Alcentra) and Michelle Russell-Dowe (Schroders). The report looks at 14 segments of the market including CLOs, direct lending, leveraged loans, distressed debt and credit derivatives.  

The View from ION Analytics: paradise blues
The reopening of economies from Covid-19 lockdowns has created distortions in financial markets that are harder to navigate than those of the original sell-off in early 2020. Even big-name economists and central bankers are confused, changing their views in recent weeks. 

Green QE is future, says BofA
Last week's European Central Bank strategy review confirmed that climate change policies will dictate the shape of future asset purchases, say Bank of America credit strategists