Structured products
Deutsche Börse offers Dax dividends with new index
Deutsche Börse has unveiled a new index offering investors exposure to companies in the Dax German benchmark index expected to pay a dividend this year. An exchange-traded fund which tracks the Dax plus Maximum Dividend Index has been simultaneously…
Demand prompts second Morgan Stanley gilt-backed plan
Morgan Stanley has unveiled the second version of its gilt-backed growth plan, after the first tranche smashed the bank's UK retail sales records in structured products. The FTSE Defensive Gilt-Backed Growth Plan, which was launched in February 2009,…
Ice clears $71 billion of CDSs
Atlanta-based derivatives exchange IntercontinentalExchange (Ice) has cleared $71 billion notional in credit default swaps (CDS) in the four weeks since the launch of its central clearing platform. The exchange cleared 613 transactions and reported open…
UAE enforces tighter capital adequacy rules
Daily news headlines
CDS: US banks continue to narrow
Credit default swap 5-year mid-levels for structured products issuers (Thursday April 9)
US Wrap: Principal protection makes timid reappearance
One principal protected structure made it into the US market yesterday after hints earlier this week that guaranteed notes might be making a tentative reappearance. Credit Suisse's range-bound note was the second this week to offer 100% principal…
The great bond buyback
The Bank of England has kicked off its repurchase scheme for sterling high grade bonds, but opinion is divided over whether the subsequent tightening of spreads is down to the government initiative or extraneous factors. Laurence Neville reports
Volatility puts credit investors on the defensive
Investors are gravitating towards safe haven sectors such as utilities and telecoms as credit fundamentals on non-cyclicals continue to deteriorate
Sting in the tail
Credit spreads on highly rated names have blown out to levels that are proving irresistible to many buy-and-hold investors such as pension funds. But tail risk in the form of increased default expectations is still a major consideration. Blake Evans…
Marketgraphic - European investment grade issuance
High grade corporates have turned to the bond markets for financing given the reluctance of banks to extend loans. Analysis by Michael West and Sabinne Renner of Moody's
On the crest of a wave
Corporate bond volumes have been soaring as companies scramble to meet their funding requirements in the wake of the loan market's demise. Simon Boughey looks at whether this wave of issuance is a temporary phenomenon or whether it heralds a permanent…
Legal spotlight
The global nature of the financial crisis has led to an unprecedented spirit of co-operation amongst securities regulators in different jurisdictions, says Robert Brownlie
Turbulent times for airport issuers
Europe's airports are tightening their belts as macroeconomic pressures erode balance sheets and credit quality. Alexandre de Lestrange from Standard & Poor's reviews the factors influencing the agency's rating decisions on the 12 airport issuers
Ukraine heads list of riskiest sovereign issuers
Central Asian and South American countries dominate the league table of sovereign issuers with the highest risk debt, while northern European nations - plus the US - are among the safest
Robert Stheeman
The head of the UK's Debt Management Office, the body responsible for administering the wave of recent government issuance, tells Sarfraz Thind that the recent failed auction doesn't spell a death of demand for gilts
Gary Jenkins: Turner's blank canvas
The FSA's chairman, Lord Turner, has published his much-anticipated recommendations for a shake-up of the regulatory system. Do they go far enough?
The price is right
Consensus on the input assumptions that financial institutions use to value structured finance securities is crucial if the market is to reach a universally agreed method of pricing these impaired assets. By Peter Jones of Standard & Poor's