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

Millennium senior tranche trader jumps to Verition
An experienced synthetic structured credit trader has left Millennium Management in New York to join Greenwich headquartered Verition Fund Management

Credit Fundraising: Blue Owl and WhiteHorse gain from improving animal spirits
Fundraising perked up in July as managers raised $14.9 billion for credit funds - the third highest monthly amount this year

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

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

Former DWS official claims company over-stated ESG progress: WSJ
DWS Group’s environmental, social and governance investment claims are in the spotlight after its former sustainability officer claimed the firm over-stated its ESG efforts, according to the Wall Street Journal

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

Key CLO official earns promotion to managing director at Z Capital
Z Capital Group has promoted two members of its investment team in New York, including a central figure on its CLO management platform

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

CLOs stand to win from US capital cost refinement, says BofA
A move by US insurance regulators to refine the capital charge framework for structured products will make CLOs more attractive versus corporate bonds, according to Bank of America strategists

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

Senior research analyst joins Onex from another US CLO issuer
Onex Credit Partners has hired senior research analyst with 11 years' industry experience 

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.  

Santander to acquire Amherst Pierpont for $600 million
Banco Santander says it has struck an agreement to acquire fixed income broker dealer Amherst Pierpont Securities

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. 

Jefferies and SMBC form $2.25 billion partnership
Jefferies and SMBC Group have announced an alliance which will see SMBC provide a $1.9 billion credit facility to Jefferies Finance, the leveraged finance affiliate of Jefferies, and $350 million to Jefferies Group.