Matalan becomes first Crossover index default in over year
Matalan, the UK based retailer, is the first default to hit the on-the-run series of Europe's iTraxx Crossover index, with the Determinations Committee ruling it has triggered a bankruptcy credit event

HSBC reveals details of its return to SRT issuance through two late-2019 deals
HSBC has shed light on its significant risk transfer business as part of its Pillar 3 disclosures

Apollo appoints head of leadership development and diversity
Apollo Global Management is taking steps to improve diversity at its leadership level

Noble Corp auction date set as low recoveries stack up
The Americas Determinations Committee has set a date to settle CDS referencing the offshore driller, which looks set to follow Chesapeake Energy as the latest in a run of big pay outs for protection buyers

CIFC's new HY team takes all-weather approach as it launches Ucits fund
CIFC has launched a long-short high yield Ucits fund, underlining a trend for all-weather strategies that Creditflux highlighted in the August issue of the monthly newsletter

The surge in index tranche trading has resulted in a deep, liquid and nuanced set of market dynamics
Welshcake emerges from his bunker to find CLOs still standing and the CSO market getting back to business

CSOs start printing again with new money ready to invest
The synthetic bespoke market is putting behind it the turmoil of recent months, with a pipeline of new CSO transactions starting to price and a swelling supply of new money lining up to invest.

Curve trades in focus as US high yield surges tighter
The strength of improvement in US high yield spreads looks to have shifted gear, with outperformance over European credit and a big move for CDX HY index curve trades

Fund performance: Credit funds post double-digit gains
June returns have once again been led by CLO funds, as seven out of the top 10 belong to our CLOs category.

Credit funds at a glance (August 2020)
A round-up of fundraising and people moves

Ucits at a glance: Ucits funds march on and erase Q1 losses
95% of Ucits credit funds listed with Creditflux posted positive returns in June to keep up the momentum from May when all but one fund was in positive territory

Credit hedge funds (August 2020)
Monthly credit hedge fund tables

Don’t be a hero: managers opt to go market-neutral
There’s yet more volatility in store later this year — that’s the consensus according to credit portfolio managers that have spoken to Creditflux. What they are unsure about is the scale and direction of this movement, which is leading them to prune their portfolios with an emphasis on market-neutral tactics

Investors get creative with new ways to trade the curve
Credit index curve trading is gaining new features going into August, evidencing deeper liquidity for CDS strategies, but also that investors already have one eye on the upcoming September rolls.

Rampant technicals push cash and CDS in different directions
Central bank interventions, primary market issuance and high yield defaults have conspired to create major distortions in credit performance, which sources say are ripe for opportunistic trading.

They said it: "Imagine a garden party and all of a sudden a big wasp shows up"
On Creditflux’s US CLO webinar last month, Napier Park’s head of US CLO investments Serhan Secmen described the March sell-off as a garden party

New funds move in as tranche trades take off
Synthetic structured credit funds are proving popular with investors amid a spike in index tranche trading

Banks and high yield corps lead charge as results prompt European rally
High yield corporate credit is today's outperforming part of the market as European credit rallies back from its recent wides, as the latest round of earnings proves stronger than many had expected

GSO names additional portfolio manager for three listed credit funds
GSO Capital Partners has added Robert Post as a portfolio manager to three listed credit funds, effective 1 August

Wirecard CDS settles above single digits
Wirecard CDS just about bucked the recent trend of defaulting credits settling in single digits at auction

AT1s come into focus after financial CDS rally
The credit rally in June and July has favoured CDS referencing financial borrowers, but sources note a breakdown of usual market relationships that has left pockets of value for investors

High yield traders take stock amid Crossover/HY compression
A convergence trade is underway this week in the high yield credit market, with US index CDX HY reaching its nearest level versus European counterpart iTraxx Crossover since the start of June

Europcar bonds and CDS take a spin ahead of earnings
Europcar Mobility Group is having a car-crash trading session in bonds and CDS today ahead of its expected earnings report

Seven dealers sign up for Wirecard CDS auction
An auction tomorrow to settle Wirecard CDS will have just seven participating dealers - three fewer than has been customary in other recent credit event settlements

Travel firms lead sell-off on second wave fears
Travel related companies are in focus for European credit investors at the start of the week, following the UK government's decision to re-impose a 14-day quarantine on people arriving from Spain