Credit bull run picks up amid commodities surge
European credit spreads have made a sharp turn for the tighter, building on last week's strong run, even after Asian spreads weakened on rising commodity costs

Credit grind makes it five days out of five in bullish week
Credit markets are heading into the weekend on a fifth straight day of improving spreads, amid signs of returning economic confidence and appetite to invest in the asset class

Financials and high yield outperform as rally gathers momentum
Credit spreads are enjoying a second day of improvement to regain some of the ground they lost last week, with Italian banks, commodity traders and higher yielding borrowers among outperformers in a broad rally of both indices and single name borrowers

Sell-off regathers momentum as inflation signals mount
A glum mood has returned to financial markets, beginning with the US session on Tuesday and overspilling into global trading on Wednesday

Financials and high yield corps retrace tighter after inflation shake out
Credit markets firmed up on Tuesday, with European single name CDS finding a chance to recover some ground after Monday's inflation-led weakness. But credit indices underperformed, struggling to return tighter even as stock indices advanced once again and oil prices hit new highs

Credit underperformance resumes as equity turns corner
Credit markets are pushing wider once again on Wednesday, even though stock markets look to regaining some composure following Tuesday's steep sell off

Fund performance: Lightning strikes twice as range of credit funds deliver
What seemed like a chance occurrence in February has struck again in March, as seven categories make our top 10 best performing hedge funds

Credit and stocks regain composure on rates as oil hits new heights
Credit and equity markets have improved again on Wednesday morning, after US treasury secretary Janet Yellen's comments about possible rate rises spooked markets on Tuesday afternoon

M&A drives movers in high yield and investment grade
Acquisition talks are having the biggest impact on European credit spreads on Tuesday following the UK bank holiday, with several names moving against an otherwise flat market

Banks set to offer client clearing of credit index options
Bank members of LCH, the London Stock Exchange's clearing arm, will soon start offering client clearing of CDS index options, as the industry prepares for its next ramp up of margining requirements

Tobacco splutters in broad market sell off
Credit and equity are under pressure on Tuesday as markets pull back from their improved levels amid concerns about the worsening global covid-19 picture. But tobacco companies have their own problems to contend with, with the US considering a proposal to require lower nicotine levels in cigarettes and other countries also looking to curb sales

Credit Rendezvous: ready and waiting
In Creditflux's quarterly review of credit, portfolio managers tell us that Inflation is likely to nudge higher but they are optimistic because dispersion will pick up and windows of volatility will emerge, rather than elongated phases of stress 

"IG investors might want to rethink the instrument, but they need not fear rising rates just yet"
In his latest column for Creditflux, Cheyne's Duncan Sankey writes that the sharp rise in 10-year US treasuries could be positive for investment grade investors, but value is in CDS rather than bonds 

Hermes seeks ESG alpha in companies making changes
Buy-side demand to tick boxes for ESG standards has fuelled a boom in green and social impact bonds that is extending into high yield issuance. But as investment opportunities mount, so does soul-searching about the next phase

Technicals support IG while investors hunt for rising stars
Investment grade credit spreads have been stubbornly tight for the past six-months, but investors see positive technical factors that make lower-rated bonds appealing

Dutch telco CDS leaps on private equity rumours
An iTraxx Europe constituent has surged wider in five-year CDS amid reports of a buy-out approach

Options investors look to medium-term market normalisation
Credit index options trading has been heating up, with investors looking to take views on future market volatility well beyond the customary three-month horizon as Europe and the US grapple to keep a lid on rates.

"Watch the IG credit curve — we may see steepening of IG 5s10s and flattening of 10s30s"
Stimulus measures are supporting short tenors, and pension demand for 30-year paper is strong, so 10-year IG credit may have few buyers

Single names make big gains as indices dither
Single name CDS in the US and Europe have strongly outperformed from the start of the week, rallying sharply and across most of the credit universe despite direcctionless trading for indices

No sign of caution as single names pick up rally into long weekend
Credit has extended its impressive rally into the long weekend, with single names playing catch up with indices amid economic recovery signals and on the back of US president Joe Biden unveiling a $2 trillion infrastructure plan

Corp hybrid popularity mounts, but strategist outlooks diverge
Corporate hybrid bonds are becoming a focal point for investors in the second quarter, with one bank's credit strategy team making them a top pick to trade spread compression while another's has expressed caution on their likely performance

Banks take big hit as investment firm's fire sale rages
Banks exposed to embattled investment firm Archegos Capital are blowing out wider in credit markets today as their stock prices slump

TRS goes electronic on Tradeweb with iBoxx trade
Tradeweb Markets has completed what it says is the first ever fully standardised total return swap trade based on IHS Markit’s iBoxx US Dollar Liquid High Grade index

Roll pushes indices wider but fair value trumps technical positioning
Several CDS indices rolled into new series on Monday, with all of them adding spread over the outgoing versions due to added duration as well as composition changes

Yield rise is buying signal for bonds, says BNP Paribas
Credit spreads are set to hit new cyclical tights in the coming months, with the recent rise in yields having offered an attractive entry point especially for high-rated bonds, say BNP Paribas credit strategists