Europe’s debt market is posting records with $107 billion of sales in one week as borrowers hurry to get ahead of interest rate hikes.
- Portugal, Spain, and discount airline Wizz Air raised funding this current week. The figures beat a previous record posted in early 2020 when companies loaded more cash just before the pandemic started.
- The sales boom comes after an earlier-than-usual closure of the market in the lead-up to Christmas eve as the European Central Bank plans to begin winding down bond purchases.
- Rate hikes are likely to come in the U.S. following the biggest increase in U.S. consumer prices in close to four decades last year.
- Marco Baldini, head of EMEA and Japan and Japan bond syndicate at Barclays Plc, stated that there is more anxiety about how much the spreads and yields may worsen due to Fed and the inflation influence.
The corporate market is also posting its share of big deals, as companies take the opportunity on Europe’s low borrowing costs.
Euro Stoxx 50 up +0.11%, EUR USD up +0.32%Source: Bloomberg
