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. 

Convexity pushes high yield bond basis to the forefront
Compression had become the watchword of the market as Creditflux went to press, providing justification for high yield versus investment grade macro plays, wide-end long positioning and selective tight-end shorts. But the more important driver, say some relative value investors, was convexity

It's all relative: Euro CLO mezz rallies to follow month-long IG/HY compression
European credit suffered this week with Brexit talks between the UK and the EU dragging on and both sides conceding that a trade deal is unlikely to be reached by Sunday’s deadline. But European CLO tranches have held up reasonably well with mezzanine spreads tightening by almost 13% in December

Europe leads corporate credit rally, but US outperforms in CLOs
iTraxx Crossover has been the CDS market's outperformer this week, tightening over 30 basis points, or 11.4%, to trade at 235bp today. But in the CLO market, US deals have come out on top thanks to a BlackRock CLO that priced its double Bs at some of the tightest levels this year

Compression plays out as HY and European CLO double Bs outperform
Investment grade and high yield credit spreads have tightened in sync with each other this week, but CDS and CLOs alike underline that the big theme over the past month has been compression between investment grade and high yield

IG and crossover indices converge while European CLO double Bs rally
iTraxx Crossover is again outperforming Main today with the investment grade index widening 0.11bp to 52.56bp while the crossover index is 2.42bp tighter to 296.99bp. Meanwhile bank research signals that junior CLO tranches could benefit as investors look at covid industries through a different lense 

CDS indices edge wider and positive skew opens as Pershing Square puts on new hedge
Credit indices have widened a touch this week but they’re back in focus with reports that Pershing Square Capital Management, led by Bill Ackman, has this week used CDS indices to hedge parts of its equity portfolio

European CLO double Bs jump wider amid October macro worries - but seniors stand firm
The fortunes of investment grade and high yielding European CLO tranches have gone in opposite directions in the last month. In a year where relative value has shifted several times, Creditflux analysis shows that new issue European CLO double Bs have blown out by 16.5% in October versus September, while triple A-rated notes have tightened 6.7% in that time

Credit spreads wind back to February to bring shorts into focus
The credit rally since April has opened up an opportunity to go short credit, say fund managers, with spreads back to where they were in late February

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.

Bond selling pushes down Argentina CDS auction final price
An auction on Friday to settle Argentina sovereign CDS returned a final price of 31.5 cents, three points lower than initial bidding due to a large physical settlement interest to sell bonds

Fund perfomance: Slowdown for some as pandemic takes hold

Tranche traders aim to navigate default risk while staying clear of coronavirus contagion
The CDS market is navigating between two sources of risk for equity and mezzanine high yield index tranches. The default of US media company McClatchy has focused idiosyncratic concerns, while the spread of the coronavirus has stoked fears of a systemic sell-off.

IHS Markit mulls CDX EM growth and iTraxx ESG screen
Increasing the portfolio size of CDX EM and consulting on an ethically-screened version of iTraxx Europe are among the projects index administrator IHS Markit has been working on ahead of the 20 March roll.

Covid-19 outbreak rattles carry traders
The coronavirus panic hitting financials markets at the end of February has been a strong driver of relative value trades, with CDS underperforming both cash bonds and equity, while financial names felt the heat more than corporate borrowers as geographical risk came into play.

Fund performance: CLO funds pick up where they left off
A round-up of fund performance

Correlation rise stokes mezz rally but adds to CSO woes
Below the calm surface of the credit market, correlation has been churning and creating dislocations rich with reward for index tranche traders but complicating bespoke issuance, say sources.

Fund performance: Presents under the tree as CLO funds perform

Fund performance: Long-short funds rule in October as CLO funds struggle
A round-up of fund performance

Rising idiosyncratic risk leads to calls for high yield index tranche fix from traders
As sources of funding dry up for the weakest borrowers in the credit market, some correlation traders are calling for an overhaul of CDX NA HY index tranches to make trades on wide-end dispersion more effective.

Fund performance
A round-up of fund performance click here.

Fund performance
A round-up of fund performance

Fund performance
A round-up of fund performance