CDOs on the radar

Collateralised debt obligations have been a major factor in the recent run of spread tightening. Asset managers are discovering that they can no longer afford to ignore these instruments. Laurence Neville reports

In the month running to mid-September, European credit spreads had tightened for 29 out of 30 consecutive trading sessions. And the one day they widened it was by a meagre one half of one basis point, just 0.005%. Of course, the credit market has experienced rallies before. But the difference between this rally and others is the level from which it started and its singularity of direction.

Last year’s rallies were recovery rallies – spreads were wide and consequently tightened – and did not show