Tranche traders aim to navigate default risk while staying clear of coronavirus contagion
The CDS market is navigating between two sources of risk for equity and mezzanine high yield index tranches. The default of US media company McClatchy has focused idiosyncratic concerns, while the spread of the coronavirus has stoked fears of a systemic sell-off.

IHS Markit mulls CDX EM growth and iTraxx ESG screen
Increasing the portfolio size of CDX EM and consulting on an ethically-screened version of iTraxx Europe are among the projects index administrator IHS Markit has been working on ahead of the 20 March roll.

Covid-19 outbreak rattles carry traders
The coronavirus panic hitting financials markets at the end of February has been a strong driver of relative value trades, with CDS underperforming both cash bonds and equity, while financial names felt the heat more than corporate borrowers as geographical risk came into play.

BDCs tap bond market to improve funding mix
A plethora of business development companies have turned to the institutional bond market to refinance their debt.

Huge CDS gap yawns between US and Europe, despite Fed intervention
Having crossed paths in a rare moment of compression on Monday, iTraxx Europe and its US counterpart CDX IG have since undergone one of their biggest moments of dislocation since the global financial crisis, as an emergency rate cut by the Federal Reserve failed to comfort investors about the impact of the coronavirus on the US economy

Europe rallies hard after CDX IG closes tighter for first time since June
Volatility in credit remains heightened due to the coronavirus outbreak, but movement has become two-way, with European CDS indices surging tighter today after US index CDX IG ended yesterday’s session tighter than iTraxx Europe for the first time in nine months

Credit reels back to January 2019 levels as coronavirus impact spreads
A more positive opening for European credit today proved short-lived, as coronavirus developments caused the market to reverse its modest improvement early on to careen back to some of the widest levels in over a year

Credit traders’ kickstand: a year comes undone in a week as world faces coronavirus moment of truth
As the coronavirus outbreak reaches a 'decisive point', according to the World Health Organisation, one of most volatile weeks in recent memory has hauled credit spreads from their post-financial crisis tights to much wider levels last seen in the first half of 2019 and, in the case of emerging markets, more than a year ago.

Bloodbath in primary as credit bleeds months of profit
Some primary market bond issues that investors lapped up in the heady weeks of January are being put to the sword as February ends, while the coronavirus-led downturn in credit has squandered several months of gains in the CDS market

CDS takes brunt of coronavirus panic sell-off
European credit derivatives are among the hardest hit assets today amid a broad sell-off, as the fast spread of the coronavirus into Italy, Korea and Iran has brought a reappraisal of the impact it could have on financial markets

Loomis Sayles loses out as US pension shifts to higher-quality credit
Dallas Police and Fire Pension System is liquidating a loan portfolio managed by Loomis Sayles, as it reallocates assets away from high yield towards investment grade

Illinois pension seeks minority-owned fund of minority-owned fund
The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) has launched a search, seeking minority-owned investment manager of managers to overlook international equities and/or fixed income strategies.  

Texas pension pumps $300 million into Pimco fund
Texas Municipal Retirement System has earmarked up to $300 million to a credit fund managed by Pimco, according to board documents seen by Creditflux, building on a relationship established through a predecessor fund

Axa terminates $14 billion fixed income mandate with AB as it takes assets in-house
Axa has terminated a $14 billion taxable-fixed income investment mandate with AB

Crossover and senior financials lead widening on coronavirus uptick
iTraxx Senior Financial and Crossover credits are taking the brunt of a move wider today, along with slumping stock markets, as fears about the spread of novel coronavirus took another turn upwards

Davidson Kempner hires ex-Barclays convertibles research head
DavidsonKempner, the investment management firm, has hired the former head of European and Asian convertibles research at Barclays to manage convertible bonds in its London office

Elfa partners with LMA to develop standardised ESG disclosure topics
The European Leveraged Finance Association, in partnership with the Loan Market Association, has launched an engagement programme to develop a standard set of material ESG disclosure topics on which issuers and borrowers can be expected to report publicly

UK financials push wider following Irish election surprise
UK and Italian financials are the weakest part of the credit market today, against an otherwise flattish backdrop, with the Irish general election result adding to concerns about how Brexit negotiations will fare this year

Credit Rendezvous: the outlook in 2020 across a dozen segments of the credit market
Welcome to the Credit Rendezvous, the first instalment of a regular feature published by Creditflux that tracks credit market dynamics in a dozen segments from investment grade, liquid loans, CLOs and CSOs all the way through to distressed debt. We view this as the meeting point for credit specialists across strategies to share their perspectives

California pension looks to cut liquid credit allocations
Fresno County Employees’ Retirement Association will likely cut back on liquid credit and completely remove hedge fund allocations in 2020.. But the pension is optimistic about core bonds – and may include it as a new asset class

Correlation rise stokes mezz rally but adds to CSO woes
Below the calm surface of the credit market, correlation has been churning and creating dislocations rich with reward for index tranche traders but complicating bespoke issuance, say sources.

BTIG hires strategist to cover US and European financials
Nandana Shenoy has joined BTIG in New York to work as a strategist covering US and European financials, according to an announcement by the brokerage

Italian financials put Europe's best foot forward as US outperforms
Financial credits are once again leading the way as the market continues this week’s sharp return rally

Credit traders' kickstand: full reversal for Crossover as coronavirus spreads
European high yield CDS index iTraxx Crossver is ending the week back at around 230bp, in effect undoing all its improvement since the start of December

Skew trading discord as single name CDS snub index rally
The credit market’s reappraisal of risk today, following from Monday’s widening on coronavirus fears, comes with a marked dislocation between the performance of CDS indices and their underlying constituents