Archive for September, 2014

Scotland Polls

Saturday, September 13th, 2014

A bevy of polls released today makes the vote on Scottish independence on Thursday too close to call. Via the Telegraph: By Tim Ross, and Peter Dominiczak 9:30PM BST 13 Sep 2014 Polling experts said the Scottish independence referendum was “too close to call” on Saturday night as a clutch of surveys gave ...

Merrill Lynch on Credit Spreads

Saturday, September 13th, 2014

Via Merrill Lynch Research: Decompression. According to our fresh September '14 US credit survey high grade investors remain overwhelmingly overweight, despite a small decline in positions, while high yield investors have partially rebuilt their overweight from July's lows. While generally the dominant view remains that credit spreads are overvalued, clearly the ...

Messy Divorce

Saturday, September 13th, 2014

Martin Wolfe on the FT opines on the messy divorce which will ensue if the Scots vote for independence. Via the FT: September 12, 2014 7:07 pm What happens after a Yes vote will shock the Scots By Martin Wolf However amicably a divorce begins, that is rarely how it ends. Talks will be bitter ...

The Mighty Greenback

Saturday, September 13th, 2014

Via the WSJ: Economy Resurgent U.S. Dollar Fuels Rally Longest Winning Streak in 17 Years Helps Drive Demand for U.S. Stocks, Bonds By Ira Iosebashvili, Dan Strumpf and Min Zeng Sept. 12, 2014 6:59 p.m. ET A resurgent dollar is bolstering global demand for U.S. stocks and bonds as investors flock to a recovering American economy. The dollar has logged ...

Puerto Rico and the Hedge Funds

Friday, September 12th, 2014

This is an interesting article on the relationship between Puerto Rico and the hedge funds who believed they had uncovered value in the Commonwealth's bonds.

More on the Imperial Presidency

Friday, September 12th, 2014

Earlier this week I linked to a blog post of George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley who excoriated President Obama for unilaterally deciding on his own that he could engage in hostilities with the radical Islamist group ISIL. Today there is an op ed piece in the NYTimes which ...

End of Day Commentary Via Richard Gilhooly

Friday, September 12th, 2014

Via Rich Gilhooly at TDSecurities: Bonds continued to leak to higher yields through the day, even as equities moved sharply lower, as the overhang from the bond auction and duration extension owing to a significant bear steepening led to increased needs to shed duration into a falling market. The 10yr note ...

Corporate Bonds

Friday, September 12th, 2014

I have not written much this week on corporate bond spreads this week. I just conversed with a syndicate desk manager regarding spreads and the state of the market. This week , in spite of the back up in the Treasury market rates, corporate bond spreads performed admirably. Energy was the ...

Corporate Bond Issuance Stats

Friday, September 12th, 2014

Via Bloomberg: IG CREDIT: Weekly Issuance Stats; Tenors, Ratings, Sectors 2014-09-12 14:34:29.989 GMT By Lisa Loray Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- $39.025b priced from 36 issuers in 57 tranches for the week ending September 12, the 10th highest YTD, according to data compiled by First Word. * Monthly volume $97.125b, YTD volume $1.024t * Corporates (41.7%) outpaced financials (34.2%); ...

Parable of the Melting lake in April

Friday, September 12th, 2014

The bond market continues to sell off though there seems to be a little stability around 2.60 in 10s for the moment. The curve continues to steepen and is steeper than where it was at 500AM this morning (which was steeper than last evening levels). I think the street went ...