Archive for April, 2015

Secondary market Corporate Bond Trading Yesterday

Thursday, April 2nd, 2015

Via Bloomberg: CREDIT: Spreads Mixed; Pipeline for April and Beyond 2015-04-02 09:34:36.359 GMT By Robert Elson (Bloomberg) -- Secondary IG trading ended with a Trace count of $15.0b vs $16.7b Tuesday, $14.5b last Wednesday. * 10-DMA $14.0b * 144a trading added $2.4b of IG volume vs $2.6b on Tuesday, $2.2b last Wednesday * Short issues from GS, BACR were ...

FX

Thursday, April 2nd, 2015

Via Marc Chandler at Brown Brothers Harriman: Dollar Sets Back After Testing Top of Range - The US dollar is mostly lower as liquidity thins, and soft economic data has kept the bulls penned - US auto sales, however, has been a bright spot - The Australian dollar is the weakest of the major ...

Vacation at the Golden Arches

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

McDonald's raised the minimum wage for employees at company owned stores today in a move which will touch about 90,000 workers. Ben Casselman of the 538 blog notes that the even more significant policy change was to provide some vacation pay to low wage workers. He argues that this is ...

Geopolitics and Oil Prices

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

This was out yesterday March 31 but remains relevant. Via Barron's: By Wayne Arnold March 31, 2015 Today stands to be a momentous day for oil. It is, after all, the self-imposed deadline for sealing a deal between Iran and six big powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States – that ...

Windy City Pension Woes

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

Via the WSJ: By Mike Cherney And Aaron Kuriloff April 1, 2015 6:18 p.m. ET A big pension shortfall is buffeting the Windy City. Fearing that the multibillion-dollar gap might undermine Chicago’s finances, some bond investors and credit-ratings firms are becoming wary. Four pension funds in the nation’s third-largest city are facing a combined funding gap ...

FX

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

Via Marc Chandler at Brown Brothers Harriman: European Economic Thaw Continues, but Dollar Remains Firm - The US dollar remains bid as liquidity begins to slip away from the foreign exchange market, not to return until April 7; ADP and ISM manufacturing in focus for the US today - China reported better-than-expected official ...

What to Watch Today

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

Via Bloomberg: WHAT TO WATCH: * (All times New York; may be subject to delays) Economic Data * 7:00am: MBA Mortgage Applications, March 27 (prior 9.5%) * 8:15am: ADP Employment Change, March, est. 225k (prior 212k) * 9:45am: Markit U.S. Manufacturing PMI, March final, est. 55.3 (prior 55.3) * 10:00am: Construction Spending m/m, Feb., est. -0.1% (prior -1.1%) * 10:00am: ...