China Focus: The secondary effect of defaults
The bid-ask spread for bonds in China’ property market has expanded by 300% this year, although even more so for Evergrande which increased by...
Prioritising investment on the high yield trading desk
When we look at the priorities of trading desks in developing more automated tools, we can consider the longer term market trends as a...
Seeing the pressure market makers are under in European credit
Secondary market data paints a picture of the challenges faced by sell-side market makers in the European corporate bond market during Q4. Information from...
APAC trading recovery is far from even
The recovery from last year’s market sell-off and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic appears to have been marked in many regions, with volumes for both...
Evidence of trading efficiency from electronification
This week we look at the growth of electronic trading in the US fixed income markets, and the potential it holds to reduce time...
TRACE recalibration exposes double counting
An adjustment to bond trade reporting to TRACE, the US post-trade reporting tape for fixed income, has cut the volume of trades arranged via...
Dealer engagement in multi-dealer platforms is growing
Sell-side firms appear to be increasing their engagement with corporate bond trading platforms. The narrative of increased bilateral trading between dealers and clients...
Juggling the growth in CUSIPs
If the population of a country increased by 50% since 2014, you would think a housing crisis was likely.
Yet in the year The DESK...
The high impact of low volumes in Q2
Volumes in US investment grade (IG) bonds have fallen significantly in the second quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2020....
Sub-2bps bid-ask spreads in US IG are below pre-crisis levels
The US investment grade (IG) credit market is seeing very tight bid-ask spreads in 2021, according to the Composite Plus (CP+) data supplied by...
