French co rattles investors on micro level as Russia overclouds macro
After a cautious opening, investors in the European credit market have resumed hedging as western leaders continue to talk up the prospect of Russia invading Ukraine and the Kremlin has dismissed hopes of a Biden-Putin summit as premature

Heavy market rout takes credit back to November 2020 levels
High volatility is gripping financial markets at the end of a week that has been decisively bearish for credit spreads, as concerns about the end of central bank stimulus and warnings of a Russian invasion of Ukraine next month layer on pain for investors

Credit Rendezvous: the upside of inflation
It is clear, inflation is not transitory and central banks are acting with several interest rate hikes likely in store for the US this year. That makes loans and CLO debt tranches attractive, but there could be opportunities beyond these floating rate assets

See what's next: Netflix gives whole market a chill
Financial markets look set to end the week once again on a bearish trajectory, with fears over consumer confidence and company earnings helping take credit spreads back to their widest levels since the start of December

Ukraine and Russia volatility steps up amid political trial and conflict fears
Ukrainian and Russian spreads are among the market's biggest movers at the start of the week, as developing tensions between the two countries ramp up another notch and former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has arrived in Kyiv to face treason charges

Caution returns to credit trading following tech sector rout
After a strong Tuesday session, financial markets are taking a more cautious step back on Wednesday amid returning inflation concerns and following a weak session for Chinese tech stocks

Aoyuan CDS needs physical settlement as credit event fails auction liquidity rule
Holders of CDS referencing China Aoyuan will have to physically settle contracts, the Determinations Committee has confirmed, given a lack of depth to markets for the entity

Determinations Committee agrees to rule on first credit event question in 10 months
Credit event triggers are back on the market's list of discussion points for the first time since February, with the Determinations Committee having agreed to rule on an Asian failure to pay question

Traders hunt for Monday bargains in Black Friday debris
The turmoil of Black Friday has given way to a counter-wise move on Monday, with financial markets latching onto scraps of hope over the weekend following the panic of a newly discovered covid-19 variant

US travel, energy and retail credits take big hit as variant rout extends
The widening trend in credit is extending as the weekend approaches, with US spreads picking up the baton from Europe's earlier surge

Real estate relief boosts high yield but retail rout gathers pace
A mixed week for credit has taken German real estate company Adler back to safer levels while sending two supermarket retailers further into the realms of most risky in the iTraxx Crossover universe

Credit Rendezvous: Credit spins full circle
The third quarter was massive in terms of volumes with CLOs, high yield, leverage loans and private equity registering record issuance. But credit spreads were up and down as inflation fears, crackdowns in China and rising coronavirus cases became catalysts for risk-off sentiment in July and September

Investors shrug at new Evergrande bond deadline a week on from roll havoc
Chinese real estate giant Evergrande looks unlikely to meet a $45 million bond payment due on Wednesday despite reports it plans to sell a $1.5 billion commercial bank stake. But credit markets are showing very little reaction despite initial default concerns having up-ended CDS index rolls only last week

Credit hedge funds (August 2021)
Credit hedge fund returns

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.  

Credit Rendezvous: ready and waiting
In Creditflux's quarterly review of credit, portfolio managers tell us that Inflation is likely to nudge higher but they are optimistic because dispersion will pick up and windows of volatility will emerge, rather than elongated phases of stress 

Roll pushes indices wider but fair value trumps technical positioning
Several CDS indices rolled into new series on Monday, with all of them adding spread over the outgoing versions due to added duration as well as composition changes

Credit funds at a glance (March 2021)
A round-up of fundraising and people moves

Credit hedge funds (March 2021)
Monthly credit hedge fund tables

Credit funds at a glance (February 2021)
A round-up of fundraising and people moves

Credit hedge funds (February 2021)
Monthly credit hedge fund tables

Credit Rendezvous: heading for homes
Fund managers in structured credit, real assets and distressed are bullish on the prospects for residential housing in 2021. Elsewhere, niche royalty-based strategies are in favour and although a CLO repricing wave is expected, it may not be easy to execute resets. For more, read our 13-page quarterly report on credit. 

Credit funds at a glance (January 2021)
A round-up of fundraising and people moves

Wide-end names gain ground as market hits impasse
Financial markets appear to have a hit resistance points in several asset classes today, with credit, stocks and oil prices struggling to find traction despite encouraging signals from the UK on rolling out the Pfizer/BioNTech covid vaccine

Spread compression resumes with US passing key milestones
Credit markets have resumed their crunch tighter today, with an absence of any obviously negative brakes to offset strengthening Asian industrial numbers and applications by vaccine makers for emergency approval in the US and Europe