Credit funds at a glance
A round-up of fundraising and people moves in credit

Fund performance
A round-up of fund performance

Amundi unveils ESG-focused multi-asset fund
The launch of the Amundi Funds Multi-Asset Sustainable Future fund is driven by the increasing importance of ESG investing and conservative portfolios, says the firm

Esma publishes final guidelines for alternative and Ucits fund liquidity stress-test
Fund managers have just over a year to comply with liquidity stress test final guidelines published yesterday by the European Securities and Markets Authority (Esma) for alternative investment funds (AIFs) and undertakings for the collective investment in transferable securities (Ucits)

EQT looks to raise €500 million via IPO
The initial public offering is anticipated to increase EQT's flexbility to “pursue growth opportunities” and expand its private market investing business

LCH's French unit adds first Japanese clearing member
Mizuho has signed up as the first Japanese clearing member of LCH SA, the French clearing unit of London Stock Exchange-owned LCH Group

Credit traders' kickstand: Europe ascendant as high yield pipeline returns
The high yield bond primary market grinds back into gear this week just as European credit reaches an extreme point of outperformance over the US, and comes on the back of Europe’s busiest week of investment grade issuance in 18 months

Green bonds and international credit deliver double-digit returns for Swedish pension
Second Swedish National Pension Fund (AP2) reached SEK 367.4 billion in the first half of 2019, with investments in fixed income generating double-digit returns, according to its half year report  

Credit traders’ kickstand: it’s a tough time to go short
Credit derivative indices are ending the week back at very tight levels, with a re-convergence of spreads, with little appetite to bet against presumed central bank dovishness or the upcoming CDS rolls in September

Traders eye high yield CDS b-wics as index rally opens up skew
The rally back of credit derivative indices over recent sessions has caused the skew with their underlying CDS constituents to open up, leading some dealers to posit single name CDS b-wics could be on the way

Italian job bombshell doesn't blow doors off financial CDS outperformance
Senior financial CDS have been among the best performing credits today as the market pushes tighter, with seemingly little anxiety about yesterday’s resignation of Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte

Credit traders' kickstand: Basis and CDS curves take focus with long wait ahead for central bank direction
With almost a month to wait before the European Central Bank and US Federal Reserve hold their next decisive meetings, a bumpier and seemingly directionless road continues in credit markets as investors show little inclination to do anything more adventurous than just hold on tight

Connecticut $36 billion pension hires first chief risk officer
The Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds has hired its first-ever chief risk officer

Buy iTraxx Europe equity tranche risk but sell Crossover mezz, says JP Morgan
Investors should stick with ‘search for yield’ ideas in investment grade credit, say JP Morgan credit strategists, including selling iTraxx Europe 0-3% equity tranches delta hedged, going long the 10-year Europe index, and selling credit volatility through index options while buying equity market volatility

Credit traders' kickstand: volatility puts paid to primary, but pays out for relative value buyers
The persistence of credit market choppiness has brought into focus CDS/bond basis plays, options positioning, high yield dispersion and peripheral European weakness - but mainly the volatility rash has put a block on borrowers' primary market aspirations

Flat curves and decompression make waves below the surface
Hopes of using the summer slowdown to get to the beach may be tempered for credit relative value traders, where opportunities abound behind the uninspiring benchmark numbers of the slow market grind.

Net short language could force lenders to sell at a loss
Signs are growing that ‘net short’ provisions in bonds and loans are getting closer to hitting CDS investors, with two instances in recent weeks of the language expanding both in geographical and functional remit.

Back to basis (and skew) as relative value plays catch-up
Basis trades between bonds and CDS failed to gain traction during July as synthetic markets held ground or improved their position versus cash, but this is beginning to change, say market participants.

Fund performance: Mercury rises as does credit fund performance

Ucits at a glance: Amundi and Loomis Sayles funds register big gains in H1

Credit funds at a glance

BlueMountain lands senior credit trader in New York
BlueMountain has hired an experienced trader in New York to cover credit and special situations

Index tranches and Sub Fin basket among top picks after ECB meeting, says JP Morgan
The European Central Bank’s statement that rate cuts will likely be paired with tiered deposit rates suggests a boost for the iTraxx Sub Financials index, as well as tier two and additional tier one bank bonds, says JP Morgan in latest credit research. The bank also advocates selling iTraxx Europe 0-3% tranches delta hedged

Credit traders' kickstand: tighter and tighter we go, as outlook gets 'worse and worse'
It’s a strange world, where the president of the European Central Bank can say the economic outlook is “getting worse and worse” as credit markets surge into new territories of tightness

Italian pension fund looks to build its exposure to bonds
Mediafond has launched a request for proposals in which it seeks out a manager to oversee a bond portfolio