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

Credit Suisse adds special situations trading head among raft of hires
Credit Suisse has continued to build momentum in its credit business with the hire of a managing director to head special situations and loan trading with its Europe, Middle East and Africa credit products business, following on from nine others across its London and New York credit business

CQS names CEO for its US business
CQS Asset Management has appointed Michel Brogard as chief executive officer of the firm’s US business

Bespoke gains pull CLO buyers as market tipped to hit $100bn
Synthetic bespoke issuance could catch up with the more visible CLO market this year, say structured credit specialists

Windstream CDS settles higher than expected amid big physical settlement orders
Windstream Services CDS contracts have settled at a final price of 29.5, presenting a big pay-out for holders of protection but not quite as rewarding as bond levels had projected

Tabula launches ETF to capture iTraxx Crossover and CDX HY volatility premia
Tabula Investment Management, a European fixed income exchange traded fund (ETF) provider, has launched a product aimed at capturing the volatility premium embedded in index options on iTraxx Crossover and its US counterpart CDX HY

Dealers line up to settle Windstream CDS today
Dealers will today hold a credit event auction to settle CDS referencing Windstream Services, with Morgan Stanley added to the list of participating bidders

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

Seven name changes as CDX HY rolls into tighter new series
The CDX HY index rolls today into series 32, with seven constituents changing from series 31 and a tighter portfolio spread expected to result

Staples CDS comes unfastened as refinancing talks begin
CDX HY index constituent Staples is one of the biggest movers in CDS this week, following reports private equity owner Sycamore Partners plans on taking a $1 billion dividend recap from the US headquartered office supplier

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

Challenge rejected on cheapest-to-deliver bonds for Windstream CDS auction
The Americas Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee has unanimously rejected a challenge by a market participant against allowing some of the cheapest Windstream bonds to be delivered into an auction to settle CDS referencing the company

Windstream CDS auction delayed by two weeks
An auction to settle CDS referencing Windstream Holdings has been postponed by two weeks, after dealers on the Americas Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee agreed the process needed more time

Regulation stifles SRTs, but banks and investors revel in quarter-four outperformance
Over the course of 2018 there was roughly €6.5 billion of issuance in the market for significant risk transfer (SRT) deals, sources say, with the last three months understood to be the busiest quarter on record

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

Demonised triple Bs could outshine angelic neighbours
There has been a stampede to denounce triple B corporate credit, but investors ditching this rating band may not only miss solid returns but find bigger problems up the spectrum, investors and analysts tell Creditflux.

CDX EM adds Gulf top tier as MCDX goes sub-IG
The March roll of CDS indices brings notable changes to two products in the IHS Markit suite, CDX EM and MCDX, following users’ feedback on trading requirements

Initial margin relief falls short of industry calls
Reprieve for many smaller counterparties from a requirement to post initial margin (IM) on derivative trades looks likely, following a statement from regulators this week

Dealers set Windstream credit event auction date
An auction to settle CDS referencing Windstream Holdings will take place on Monday, 18 March

Isda tables plans to rid CDS market of narrowly tailored credit events
After lengthy deliberation, a working group of major firms is today set to publish proposals aimed at ridding the market of ‘narrowly tailored credit events’, whereby borrowers are persuaded to default on debt payments in order to trigger pay-outs for CDS holders

Windstream set for high CDS pay-out as DC picks initial deliverable obligations
Windstream Holdings CDS protection holders look set for a high pay-out, as the cheapest deliverable obligations into the defaulted company’s credit event auction are quoted in the mid-20s

US dollar three-month is focus point for benchmarks, finds Ice Libor survey
One-, three- and six-month US dollar and sterling are the focus points for Ice Benchmark Administration to seek agreement with banks, according to the results of IBA’s survey on uses of Libor