Europe

The European Central Bank (ECB) is reportedly accelerating its work on a digital version of the euro (the dEuro), having seen the US pass the Genius Act in July which paved the way for broader adoption of so-called stablecoins.

We have long harked on about the strength of the technical in credit, with solid fundamentals, resilient inflows and defensive positioning continuing to provide a tailwind for the market.

The $5.2tr asset-backed finance (ABF) market represents a growing opportunity to gain exposure to high quality loan pools and the returns they can generate.

On Thursday, markets received preliminary Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) figures for August. As a reminder, PMIs are timely indicators of trends in manufacturing and services, with a number above 50 signalling an expansion and below 50 a contraction.

Restricted Tier 1 (RT1) investors have been woken from an otherwise sleepy summer after Allianz Group, one of the largest insurers and asset managers globally, brought a $1.25bn deal to the market on Tuesday.

Urbaser, a Spanish waste management specialist, came to the market last week with a controversial new deal. The company launched a €1bn payment-in-kind (PIK) toggle note to fund a dividend to its owner Platinum Equity, just six weeks after it issued a new €2.3bn debt package to refinance its existing debt and fund a further €1bn of dividends.

The European corporate hybrid market has been established for some time. It is dominated by investment grade issuers seeking to raise capital with limited impact on their leverage ratios, thanks to rating agency treatment that classifies hybrids as 50% equity and 50% debt from a balance sheet perspective.

The US and the European Union (EU) have reached a trade agreement, averting a worst-case scenario of a more damaging trade war.

With the summer holiday season fast approaching, now feels like a good moment to pause and take stock of developments in the European ABS market year-to-date.

Primary issuance in the European high yield (HY) market surged in June with €21.2bn of supply marking the highest monthly volume on record.

The turbulent start to 2025 has sent many investors seeking alternatives to US assets, but in our view European fixed income can offer more than just diversification.

Softer US economic data means the pressures on UST yields now look more balanced, but headlines around President Trump’s pick for the next Fed chair are just one reason investors should expect rates volatility to continue.