Credit funds at a glance (January 2021)
A round-up of fundraising and people moves

Credit hedge funds (January 2021)
Monthly credit hedge fund tables

Convexity pushes high yield bond basis to the forefront
Compression had become the watchword of the market as Creditflux went to press, providing justification for high yield versus investment grade macro plays, wide-end long positioning and selective tight-end shorts. But the more important driver, say some relative value investors, was convexity

Little room to move in IG’s vice-like grip
The absolute tightness of credit has left investment grade specialists a tough challenge to find value in the coming year, with neither scope for spread improvement nor encouragement to go short

It's all relative: Euro CLO mezz rallies to follow month-long IG/HY compression
European credit suffered this week with Brexit talks between the UK and the EU dragging on and both sides conceding that a trade deal is unlikely to be reached by Sunday’s deadline. But European CLO tranches have held up reasonably well with mezzanine spreads tightening by almost 13% in December

Credit sell off gathers pace ahead of Brexit crunch day
With both sides in the EU-UK negotiations conceding that trade talks are most likely to conclude on Sunday without an agreement, credit is again a big underperformer today as more longs cut and run while hedging picks up

Big push wider in high yield as traders cut their longs
Europe's iTraxx Crossover CDS index has given up a big part of its recent rally today, underperforming other indices amid signs traders are closing up books early for the end of the year

Index sell off hits at start of busy week for primary
Credit is stumbling into the week, with a widening of index spreads that noticeably underperforms stock markets

Europe leads corporate credit rally, but US outperforms in CLOs
iTraxx Crossover has been the CDS market's outperformer this week, tightening over 30 basis points, or 11.4%, to trade at 235bp today. But in the CLO market, US deals have come out on top thanks to a BlackRock CLO that priced its double Bs at some of the tightest levels this year

ECB stimulus hopes bolster high yield outperformance
Spread compression has picked up again, with European high yield taking the lead as expectations mount for another round of European Central Bank stimulus at its meeting next week

High yield resumes compression as IG seeks direction
High yield companies are once again among the best performers today as compression resumes with the investment grade credit market, despite an absence of compelling signals from stock indices or oil prices

Wide-end names gain ground as market hits impasse
Financial markets appear to have a hit resistance points in several asset classes today, with credit, stocks and oil prices struggling to find traction despite encouraging signals from the UK on rolling out the Pfizer/BioNTech covid vaccine

Spread compression resumes with US passing key milestones
Credit markets have resumed their crunch tighter today, with an absence of any obviously negative brakes to offset strengthening Asian industrial numbers and applications by vaccine makers for emergency approval in the US and Europe

Bulls give up some gains as IG banks and energy lead market wider
In a cautious opening to the week, credit spreads are edging wider against a backdrop of faltering oil prices but marginally strengthened stocks

Compression plays out as HY and European CLO double Bs outperform
Investment grade and high yield credit spreads have tightened in sync with each other this week, but CDS and CLOs alike underline that the big theme over the past month has been compression between investment grade and high yield

Europe keeps to the grind with wide-end driving improvement
Credit exhibits a firm tone as the week draws to a close, with index spreads grinding back towards their tights despite a mixed picture for oil prices and much of the US market away after the thanksgiving holiday

Stressed credits push tighter even as index bulls take profit
A cautious tone has returned to financial markets ahead of the US thanksgiving holiday, with the strong push tighter of credit spreads in recent sessions giving way to a widening move

Investment grade rallies hard on hopes of end to US deadlock
In a change from the recent trend investment grade credit is the front mover today, playing catch up on high yield as the market-wide rally gathers pace

Energy and transport names lead way as compression trades gain
High yield is leading the way again in credit - continuing last week's theme - as positive results from another covid-19 vaccine test and buoyant oil prices bring a strengthening tone to financial markets

European high yield stays positive as rest of market hits resistance point
Credit markets are taking a cautious step back following the recent rally, with only European high yield spreads still exploring their best prints of the week 

Covid toll puts reality check on market rally
Credit markets look to have hit a point of resistance, with spreads retracing today amid a rising likelihood of stricter covid-19 measures be applied in places such as New York, Tokyo and Madrid

Compression gains mount as Moderna vaccine result boosts confidence
Compression trades are paying off today, with a new covid-19 vaccine announcement prompting a broad tightening of credit spreads in which high yield corporate indices lead the charge and financial names are outperforming investment grade corporate borrowers

Single name shorters get improved entry point after conviction test
Returning market optimism has taken credit spreads back to ultra-tight levels. But for bears, this posits a better entry level for short trades, and the recent blow-out may have given strong pointers where to target them

Compression and curves in play amid second day of vaccine rally
Credit spreads are converging as they edge tighter again today, following their forceful improvement to pre-covid levels yesterday due to a successful covid-19 vaccine test

Primary pumped as Trump gazumped and vaccine hopes jump
A 'yuge' rally is underway in credit markets today, with optimism over Joe Biden's apparent victory in the US presidential election turning to elation following a big covid-19 vaccine breakthrough