Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- Traders will be hoping for a pick-up in activity after holidays, elections and release of key macro data damped volumes last week, Bloomberg strategist Simon Ballard writes.

• Underlying demand for yield and the buy-and-hold nature of the cash credit market certainly still evident, even if technicals may now favor defensive bias and outperformance of euro investment-grade debt over high yield
• Greece may be back in spotlight this week; Euro-area finance ministers meet to discuss aid impasse
  • Social unrest rising, could trigger renewed spike in risk aversion, higher govt yields
• Asian equities mixed overnight; suggests cautious opening for EUR credit this week
  • Focus on primary market as secondary market liquidity remains lackluster; market to also remain susceptible to corp earnings headlines this week
• Risk Appetite Model shows drift higher in spread dispersion, but volatilty contained
• CDX IG closed -0.3bps at 84.85 in overnight session; iTraxx Asia Ex Japan IG is currently -0.4bps at 145.76

NEWS

• Corporate News
• Mitsubishi Heavy Shares Jump on Optimistic Profit Forecast
• AngloGold Keeps FY Output Forecast; 1Q Ebitda Falls, Debt Drops
• Asics Posts Profit Gain for 1Q, Maintains Full-Year Targets
• Air Arabia First-Quarter Profit Surges 42%, Tops Estimates
• G4S 1Q Continuing Businesses Rev Rises 4.5% to GBP1.51b

• Financial News
• Commonwealth Bank Profit Gains 4.5%, Bad-Debt Charges Rise
• Sumitomo Corp. Misses Profit Target And Warns of Uncertainty
• China Banks May Need to Raise Capital for Bad Loan ABS: Fitch

• Credit Rating News
• Alibaba’s FY 2016 Results Support A1 Ratings: Moody’s
• NAB Sees Higher Risk S&P Will Put Australia on Negative Outlook
• Argentina Raised to B- From SD by S&P, Outlook Stable

• Other News
• Brexit Battle Rages in Week of Bigwig Barrage on Economic Risks
• Greece Fights to Unlock Aid as Impasse Risks Political Unrest
• KKR to Babson Swoop in to Fill Asian Lending Gap Left by Banks

ANALYST VIEWS

• Corporate bond spreads, yields and returns are going lower. They offer a more enticing pick-up versus govies, with supportive metrics and very low default rates...some kind of nirvana for borrowers - with better funding costs to come: creditmarketdaily.com

NEW ISSUES

• Inovyn Finance EU300m 5NC1.5 notes 6.25%/6.50%
• European IG credit pipeline here and HY credit pipeline here
• Issuers exposed to S-T rollover and interest-rate reset risk here

• NOTE: Simon Ballard is a credit strategist who writes for Bloomberg. The observations he makes are his own and are not intended as investment advice.