Global Bond News

Emergin market firms step up bond sales

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:23:54 +0000

Emerging market companies are increasing bond sales this year at the fastest pace in more than a decade while US and European corporate borrowing slumps as investors shift to debt from the fastest-growing economies.

Companies from America Movil SAB, Latin America’s largest wireless carrier, to Citic Bank International Ltd., a unit of China’s biggest investment firm, raised $79 billion from international bond sales in the past six months, a 146% increase from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Source

China Development Bank To Sell At Least $400 Mln Bonds Thursday

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:23:20 +0000

China Development Bank said Friday it will sell at least US$400 million worth of three-year bonds on the domestic interbank market Thursday.

The bank said in a statement the bond’s coupon will be a floating rate of the six-month London Interbank Offering Rate plus 90 basis points. Source

German Bonds Rise as Retail Sales Increase Less Than Forecast

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:22:25 +0000

German government bonds advanced as a report showed European retail sales grew less than economists predicted, boosting demand for fixed income amid concern the economic recovery is floundering.

The extra yield, or spread, investors demand to hold 10- year bunds instead of two-year notes was near the least since December as traders bet inflation will be contained. Source

India Bonds Fall After Surprise RBI Rate Hike

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:21:34 +0000

Indian government bonds fell after an unscheduled hike late Friday in both key policy rates by the central bank that took the market by surprise and dampened sentiment.

The benchmark 7.80% 2020 bond ended at INR101.25 Monday, down from Friday’s INR101.65 close. The second-most traded 8.20% 2022 bond ended at INR101.75 from Friday’s close of INR102.08. Source

Strong demand for Spanish bond auction

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:20:39 +0000

Spain successfully sold €3.5bn in bonds on Thursday in spite of warnings from one of the leading rating agencies that the country could be stripped of its triple A credit status.

Investor demand was strong for the five-year bonds as yields have risen sharply, making them look attractive compared with other core eurozone debt such as German bunds, which are trading at yields that are more than 2 percentage points lower. Source

US corporate bond issuance will revive

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:19:58 +0000

U.S. corporate bond issuance, which dried up in May as the market was buffeted by Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, will soon recover as that upheaval slowly abates, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Monday.

The bank is sticking to its previous forecasts that there will be $800 billion of U.S. high-grade corporate bond issuance and $180 billion of high-yield issuance for 2010. Source

Renminbi bond deals begin to flourish

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:19:16 +0000

A Hong Kong-based toll road company will sell renminbi-denominated bonds to international investors this week in a little-noticed deal that marks an important change in China’s currency controls.

Hopewell Highway Infrastructure, controlled by Hong Kong tycoon Gordon Wu, plans to raise at least Rmb1bn ($150m, €120m, £100m) from institutional investors to finance the construction of expressways in China’s Pearl River Delta region. Source

Won’t somebody think of the eurozone bonds?

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:18:42 +0000

Credit Agricole has. And as the French bank notes, eurozone banks have been rather big buyers of eurozone government debt in recent years — currently owning 26 per cent of Europe’s sovereign bonds.

It’s worth asking then, as Credit Agricole does, whether they’ll keep buying amid Club Med concerns, and as the European Central Bank slowly withdraws some of the funds which previously allowed the banks to go on a carry-trade spree — using cheap ECB liquidity to snap up higher-yielding bonds. Source

S Korea Won Almost Flat Late, Reversing Early Gains; Bonds Mixed

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:17:21 +0000

The South Korean won was largely flat late Friday, after earlier gains were almost wiped out by fund repatriations related to foreign selling of domestic stocks and a fall in the benchmark stock index.

The local currency once gained 1.0% against the dollar, boosted by overnight gains in the euro and news that the dollar/yuan central parity has been set at a fresh low in the modern era, restoring hopes for a stronger yuan. Source

Will Bond Funds Come Back to Bite Investors?

admin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 11:09:43 +0000

Investors, spooked by the roller coaster ride in the equity markets, the “flash crash,” and sovereign debt problems overseas, are flocking to bond funds for safety and yield. But industry experts say that investors who wrongly think this niche will weather them safely through the economy’s ups and downs may be in for a rude — and costly — awakening.

“I have been saying since January that the bond fund area is a big bubble, but that bubble continues to expand and expand and expand,” says Marilyn Cohen, author of “Bonds Now!” and president of Envision Capital Management. Source