Credit traders' kickstand: nervous equilibrium gives way to weakness as earnings and tariffs weigh
Healthy fund inflows, European and US holidays, and a thinning primary market helped sustain credit spreads this week, but a weaker turn today shows this is a fragile equilibrium and company earnings misses are starting to be punished more severely

Investors regain nerve to trade the curve
Post-crisis, CDS curve trading languished as an unloved strategy, due to illiquidity outside the five-year tenor. But dealers note resurgent demand for both 3-5 year and 5-10 year positioning, albeit with mixed results.

Credit traders' kickstand: grave times for UK banks and corps as May goes away
UK banks have been among the main underperformers in credit this week, with market sources noting that today’s notice of Prime Minister Theresa May’s intention to resign on 7 June increases the likelihood of a no-deal Brexit. And UK 'zombie' companies appear to be forming a herd

Credit traders' kickstand: widening catalysts gather force with focus on financials
Credit markets are once again ending the week on a negative tone, having regained some posture over previous sessions following last week’s tariff-driven sell-off. Credit index spreads appear inclined to trade within a range, but potential catalysts for that range to shift wider outweigh any obvious reasons to return to the tight prints of last month

Credit traders' kickstand: Trump gives Europe the ghoulies as single B spectres haunt CLOs
Trade tariff terrors and things that go triple C rated in the night are top of the list of items spooking credit market sentiment at the end of this week

Ice seeks consensus with credit risk analytics service
Intercontinental Exchange (Ice) has launched ICE Credit Risk, a suite of analytics it will provide in collaboration with financial risk assessment company Credit Benchmark

Index tranche levels spike as investors advance into equity
Trading of credit index tranches is picking up, with some $61 billion worth changing hands in the space during the first quarter, according to data from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation

New manager Resco lands ex-credit head to found advisory board
Resco Asset Management, a London based asset manager set up last year, has appointed the first of an anticipated three advisory board members

Triple B fightback has begun, says BNP Paribas
Fallen angel risk – the possibility that a wave of triple B credits could be cut by rating agencies to sub-investment grade – should begin to decline, according to strategists at BNP Paribas

Short resets take CDS indices wider at March roll
CDX and iTraxx credit derivative indices are rolling into new series today, with short position resets taking the incoming series 31 of the Europe main index wide of where series 30 closed yesterday

CDS relative value traders shift their bets as Europe trades inside US
Credit derivative markets have hit a point of position cutting and resetting, with the iTraxx Europe index having dipped inside its US counterpart CDX IG for the first time since December even as the European Central Bank’s new funding programme underwhelmed financials traders

US and UK sound post-Brexit derivatives regulatory accord
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Bank of England have issued a joint statement assuring derivative market participants of continued access to trading and clearing after the UK’s exit from the European Union

CDS sell-off brings profit-taking opportunity for basis trade players
Profit-taking on basis trades between CDS and cash bonds has begun, with the strong run for credit markets since the start of the year having hit a bump yesterday

Credit spread improvement is calm before the storm, warn strategists
European and US credit markets have begun 2019 with a more buoyant tone than they ended 2018, but strategists warn that bearish factors still outweigh and suggest the overall direction of spreads this year is likely to be wider

Credit pickers will win as high yield spreads widen in 2019, predicts Citi
After a volatile 2018 in the credit derivatives market, there are reasons to be optimistic this year for the best credit pickers, according to Citi’s global credit derivatives outlook

Cash-CDS basis set for comeback after "falling knife" mishap, predicts BNP Paribas
The beginning of 2019 should revive interest among credit investors to trade the basis between cash bonds and credit default swaps, according to BNP Paribas strategists – following what they term “falling knife” dynamics in this year’s fourth quarter

Creditex obtains CFTC swap execution facility exemption
Creditex, the electronic brokerage for corporate bonds and credit default swaps, has been granted an exemption from a requirement to register with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a swap execution facility

Credit sell-off has room to run and pricing is out of whack, says BNP Paribas
The credit market sell-off could have further to go despite recent widening and is “in the process of a late-stage business cycle unwind”, according to a strategist note seen by Creditflux

European CDS index tightens inside US even as bonds languish
Credit derivatives markets have hit a key point of trend reversal this week, with the iTraxx Europe five-year CDS index trading inside its US counterpart CDX IG for the first time since May

Pimco generates listed opportunistic energy credit fund
Pimco is eyeing the energy sector for a new opportunistic credit fund, according to US regulatory filings.

Market rout drives US/Europe credit convergence, as Brazil leads Latin widening
Credit spreads have sharply widened globally as financial markets are being rocked by concerns for a trade war and rising US rates. An equity-led rout in the US yesterday afternoon

Man Numeric launches credit platform and appoints co-heads of credit
Man Numeric, the quantitative investment business of Man Group, has launched a new credit unit and appointed two officials to lead the business

Axiom puts tranches at core of push into synthetic credit
Axiom Alternative Investments is set to target both index and bespoke tranches with the launch of Axiom Synthetic Credit Opportunity Fund.

Jefferies creates team and aims to build CSO business
Amid mounting buy-side interest in the synthetic CDO market, sources say that Jefferies is looking to build a US business arranging these transactions  

Lord Abbett markets new credit interval fund
The asset manager becomes the latest to join the interval fund rush