Push tighter takes credit indices back to pre-March levels
Credit markets are hitting new tights this week, with European spreads today following the example set by the US on Monday

Valaris and Ensco posed to DC as bankruptcy credit events
Valaris and its subsidiary Ensco International Incorporated have been proposed to the Americas Determinations Committee as bankruptcy credit events after the group filed for chapter 11 protection in August

Credit fundraising: distressed keeps in favour but CLO ETFs emerge
Five months into global lockdown and distressed debt funds are still proving popular, but several managers have found success pitching other types of credit strategies

Europcar hits bumps on the road less travelled
A rough road for Europcar this week has taken its bond and CDS spreads back towards the outer reaches, setting the French car rental firm apart from a general improvement in fortunes for names at the wider end of the market

Credit hits new tights as US covid treatment fuels hope
Credit markets are starting the week on a strong tone much as they traded on Friday, as optimism for a US approved coronavirus treatment and the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole virtual meeting on Thursday outweighed concern about rising European covid-19 cases

High yield inflows return as appetite moves to long end
A heavy slant in preference for investment grade credit has been underscored by high grade funds recording their 20th week of inflows in a row, but high yield funds are also back to positive flow for the first time in three weeks on returning European appetite

Changes in scope for CDS indices and tranches ahead of roll
Structural changes look to be afoot globally for CDS indices and tranches ahead of the September roll, with IHS Markit weighing amendments to products in all three traded regions

Matalan credit event ruling draws heavily on precedents, says DC
A bankruptcy credit event ruling on Matalan - the first this year in a European index - was a close call and relied heavily on several precedent credit events, the EMEA Determinations Committee has said

Sharp moves for single name bonds and CDS, as indices open with caution
Credit has begun the week looking for direction with European CDS indices slightly wider, US counterparts edging tighter, and high yield bonds making sharper moves in either direction

French and travel names lead sell off as UK widens quarantine list
European credit is pushing wider at the end of the week, following the UK's decision to remove France, the Netherlands and other countries from its list of those safe to travel to without quarantine

Europe's grind puts IG decompression trades in scope
The gap between US and European investment grade CDS indices has doubled this week from the tight end of its recent range, positing a possible entry point for compression trades

Apollo appoints head of leadership development and diversity
Apollo Global Management is taking steps to improve diversity at its leadership level

Noble Corp auction date set as low recoveries stack up
The Americas Determinations Committee has set a date to settle CDS referencing the offshore driller, which looks set to follow Chesapeake Energy as the latest in a run of big pay outs for protection buyers

CIFC's new HY team takes all-weather approach as it launches Ucits fund
CIFC has launched a long-short high yield Ucits fund, underlining a trend for all-weather strategies that Creditflux highlighted in the August issue of the monthly newsletter

The surge in index tranche trading has resulted in a deep, liquid and nuanced set of market dynamics
Welshcake emerges from his bunker to find CLOs still standing and the CSO market getting back to business

CSOs start printing again with new money ready to invest
The synthetic bespoke market is putting behind it the turmoil of recent months, with a pipeline of new CSO transactions starting to price and a swelling supply of new money lining up to invest.

Curve trades in focus as US high yield surges tighter
The strength of improvement in US high yield spreads looks to have shifted gear, with outperformance over European credit and a big move for CDX HY index curve trades

Fund performance: Credit funds post double-digit gains
June returns have once again been led by CLO funds, as seven out of the top 10 belong to our CLOs category.

Credit funds at a glance (August 2020)
A round-up of fundraising and people moves

Ucits at a glance: Ucits funds march on and erase Q1 losses
95% of Ucits credit funds listed with Creditflux posted positive returns in June to keep up the momentum from May when all but one fund was in positive territory

Credit hedge funds (August 2020)
Monthly credit hedge fund tables

Don’t be a hero: managers opt to go market-neutral
There’s yet more volatility in store later this year — that’s the consensus according to credit portfolio managers that have spoken to Creditflux. What they are unsure about is the scale and direction of this movement, which is leading them to prune their portfolios with an emphasis on market-neutral tactics

Rampant technicals push cash and CDS in different directions
Central bank interventions, primary market issuance and high yield defaults have conspired to create major distortions in credit performance, which sources say are ripe for opportunistic trading.

They said it: "Imagine a garden party and all of a sudden a big wasp shows up"
On Creditflux’s US CLO webinar last month, Napier Park’s head of US CLO investments Serhan Secmen described the March sell-off as a garden party

New funds move in as tranche trades take off
Synthetic structured credit funds are proving popular with investors amid a spike in index tranche trading