Credit Market Summary 21 November 2014 Portfolio Commentary Outlook for rates over next year Alastair Thomas Head of Rates & Treasury Although many shorts were finally squeezed out by the mid-October spike in treasury prices investors tend to still be either short or neutral to benchmarks. This is supported not only by position reports but also by economists’ views of considerably higher rates for the end of next year. For example, the Bloomberg survey of economists indicate average yields for 10 year treasuries at the end of 2015 are expected to be as follows: US 3.23%, Germany 1.44% and UK 3.19%. These compare to implied forward yields of about US 2.66% (currently 2.34%), Germany 0.98% (currently 0.80%) and UK 2.38% (currently 2.10%). The higher yield expectations may continue to be thwarted if positioning is still short or neutral. Further capitulation and a decent treasury long position being established will really help a proper treasury sell-off. I must admit that I have highlighted all year the potential for higher rates in the US and UK driven by expectations of strong US and UK growth and rapidly declining unemployment. This drove our key trade ideas: US and UK yields higher and widening to bunds, curve flattening and front end Eurodollar steepeners. Although decent returns have been made on these trades by picking good entry/exit levels I have subtly changed my outlook which I explain below. I expect rates at the end of next year to be considerably below the consensus economist estimates even if possibly higher than current levels. First a quick review of the mid-October volatility. The Fed’s thinks it was “driven primarily by concerns about prospects for foreign economic growth”. However a few sentences later they do say that “further pockets of turbulence were likely to arise as the start of policy normalization approached”. That second comment is a much more relevant explanation. In September the Fed member’s forecasts for rates as shown in the famous “dot” chart moved considerably higher. This helped push the USD higher and stocks started falling perhaps due to fears that the Fed would choke off growth with too rapid rate rises. The minutes for the September FOMC meeting then showed the Fed were concerned the appreciation of the dollar could have an adverse effect on the US external sector. Investors became confused about how the Fed ECM Credit Market Summary would proceed especially as members gave often confused messages. For example, Bullard said on the 9th October that inflation would go above the Fed’s 2% target in 2015 and that he was not worried about dollar strength and that rate hikes should start in Q1 2015. The same Bullard then said on 16th October that the Fed should consider delaying the end of QE purchases (but that he was nervous about rates staying at zero as the economy improves). The confused market dumped stocks and moved into safe haven treasuries. The “foreign economic growth” to which the Fed refers is likely the continuing stagnation in the Eurozone and concerns about China with its property price declines and growing non-performing loans. Chinese growth will likely be less than this year and possibly around as much as 1% lower (closer to 6% than 7%). However, it is possible the Chinese will manage to engineer the growth they target as they often do but they are likely to be concerned about the strength of the USD as the yuan is closely tied to it. The Chinese could escalate the currency wars and try to weaken the yuan as in early 2014 to help export driven growth. This would likely push USD yields lower as the Chinese move into USD and invest in treasuries maintaining the yield curve flattening bias. My outlook for inflation has changed thus tempering my rates outlook. I have generally believed this year that unemployment would fall in the US and UK (which it has) and this would fuel consumer spending and help drive inflation higher. However, commodities, especially oil, are keeping downward pressure on prices. It will take time for the low oil prices, if maintained, to flow through to CPI data and this will counter any wage led inflation. The issue is whether the decline in oil is due to a sustained reduction in demand due to global growth concerns (it is less likely to be related to supply as that has been increasing for the last few years and it is only in the last few months the price has suddenly declined). In the US the resultant fall in the price of gasoline saves the average household approximately $900 per annum. This provides a boost to disposable income that can be spent on additional goods. This growth 2 stimulus is likely to be a short lived even if oil prices remain low. The flipside is that the US economy is reliant to a large degree on the energy sector which has been a major boost to employment. The recent Fed rhetoric shows they recognise the risks of low inflation but they feel it will not persist and that inflation will get back to the 2% target in “the next few years”. Likewise the BoE sees risk of inflation dipping below 1% in the next six months but reverting to target by 2017. I do still expect unemployment in the US and UK to continue to decline towards full/equilibrium employment levels over the next year. However, if inflation were to stay low or go even lower what will the central banks do? They have mandates that include fostering employment and price stability and I suspect they will defer rate hikes if inflation remains low due to their greater fear of deflation. “ I expect rates at the end of next year to be considerably below the consensus economist estimates even if possibly higher than current levels. ” I have focused so far on US and the UK only to highlight the risks that might delay the rate hikes that are still priced to happen later next year. In the Eurozone there are no rate hike expectations and the German bund curve is fully priced for deflation and low growth with bonds out to four years at or below 0% yield. Indeed the German and Japanese yield curves are virtually the same out to five years. Japan has endured 20 years of deflation and yet five year Japanese yields only hit 0% once (in 2013). The dire prospects for the Eurozone might change if the ECB act soon with proper QE (only because that seems to lift asset prices, weaken the currency, stave off deflation and improve confidence rather than actually create jobs). Talk is cheap and eventually the market’s patience will wear out. There is a therefore a risk that UK growth is dragged by the Eurozone and thus UK rate hikes might be delayed (potentially widening UK versus US yields further). Yields for longer maturity bonds could be kept low by reduced term premia as a result of Japanese QE and also ECB QE if it takes off. That could help flatten the yield curves further. In summary, although the market is pricing a slower pace of rate hikes in the US than the Fed we may yet see lower rate expectations for the US and UK (as we did temporarily in October). I expect the US and UK curves to continue to flatten. We could see continued bull flattening with longer maturities being bought as China tries to weaken the yuan or Japanese, and possibly ECB, QE drive investors into treasuries. Alternatively inflation expectations might continue to fall and therefore delay rate hikes in the US and UK. Of course, bear flattening could at times be reestablished with shorter end rates being pushed up on strong US and UK economic data with buyers still looking to buy longer maturity bonds on price dips. I see no reason that 2s10s will not continue the current pace of flattening in which case the US swaps curve could be around 70bps by the end of 2015 compared to the current 170bps (or some 50bps below forwards). Clearly there could be bouts of steepening if inflation looks like it is picking up and that central banks will be behind the curve in hiking or because the market believes that any ECB QE will finally lead to Eurozone growth and inflation. There are also increasing concerns about the potential for some shock occurring (perhaps a large escalation in the Ukraine conflict) and this will maintain a degree of safe haven treasury bid. Volatility will also likely increase due to poor liquidity, low investor confidence in positions and with traders risk appetite reduced due to October’s volatility. This volatility will provide opportunities for additional rates trading alpha generation. 2s10s US swaps 2.7 2.5 2.3 2.1 1.9 1.7 1.5 Source: Bloomberg ECM Credit Market Summary 3 Investment Grade Corporates Rhys Foulkes Investment Analyst After a hectic earnings season, IG credits took a breath this week, with HY analysts taking on the earnings mantra. This was reflected in spreads as the MAIN CDS index was unchanged to a basis point wider at 64, and cash a basis points wider at 93 for ER00. There was a little new issue activity, with 2i RETE GAS S.p.A. launching a new deal this morning and ISS holding a roadshow ahead of a two tranche deal next week. High quality issuers like IBM and AstraZeneca were in the market, but the main new issue news came from the USA/Asia as Alibaba launched a 6-tranche dollar deal, raising $8bn in total from an order book north of $50bn. The bonds opened c5bp tighter. In credit specific news, there were a few of laggards reporting earnings such as ThyssenKrupp with strong FY results as EBITDA almost doubled to €2.3bn and Centrica lowering their 2014 guidance following weather-related challenging trading conditions. Vivendi, reported strong Q3 earnings growth and reduced net debt on divestments, but the main earnings news came from Areva as they suspended their financial outlook for 2015-16. The decision was due to the deterioration of the environment in which the company operates (revision of reactor new-build schedules, recycling export contracts and international projects and a lacklustre market for installed base services) as well as some Areva-specific issues. S&P downgraded the credit to BB+ from BBB- following the announcement. As earnings news took a back seat, M&A related headlines came back to the fore especially in the telecoms and utilities space. Firstly Telecom Italia denied they are considering a possible capital increase to fund a merger of TIM Brasil and Oi, but this did not stop potential merger rumours. Telefonica is said to be considering their options for various parts of the portfolio, including selling their UK unit and participating in Brazilian consolidation, Deutsche Telekom expects T-Mobile to attract potential suitors again, and Altice’s CEO claim they are the most natural buyer for Bouygues Telecom. Within utilities, Enel confirmed that it will receive €3.13bn for Endesa. There were also more rumours surrounding Tesco possibly selling their business in Thailand for $10bn, which would represent an attractive multiple. Staying with UK retail, Kantar reported 12-week sales numbers to the 9th of November which showed the grocery market as a whole declining by 0.2% as inflation fell to -0.4%. This is the first contraction since they began recording the series in 1994, and highlights further the difficulties faced by UK supermarket chains. Loans Sam McGairl Portfolio Manager There is much talk of a busy new issue pipeline at the moment but for now it remains just that. The expected transactions for Siemens Audiology and the take private of UK restaurant chain Prezzo have yet to launch but United Biscuits is now being pushed into the loan market by the arranger HSBC. Investors will attend a meeting today for the £985m loan which will feature both GBP and EUR tranches aimed at institutional investors. Recent large GBP loans for Amco and RAC have struggled somewhat in primary and been forced to raise pricing prior to close. United Biscuits is said to be starting with pricing north of L+500 to reflect the new reality although it should be helped by being a long time loan issuer with a strong CLO following. Exiting the new issue market this week were addon loans for Bartec and Endemol, as well as the refinancing ECM Credit Market Summary of UK clothes retailer Fat Face. The latter transaction, which was an underwritten loan to finance a dividend to the sponsor Bridgepoint after a failed IPO earlier in the year, struggled to attract investors so ended up printing at a price of 93 on the senior loans and 75 on the second lien. The secondary market has maintained the recent firm tone this week with buyers looking to fill CLO warehouses and replace exposures which are repaying. On Wednesday the loans for Firth Rixson repaid as the purchase of the company by Alcoa completed. Loan investors are expecting multi billion euro equivalent repayments from TDF and Alliance Boots in coming weeks but as yet timing on these is unclear, as is the extent to which the proceeds will be reinvested or returned to CLO 1.0 investors. 4 High Yield Henry Craik-White Senior Investment Analyst The high yield market remains dislocated from the positive trends seen in the equity markets. Spreads on cash bonds in the Merrill Lynch H9PC index widened 6bps and the iTraxx Xover CDS index matched this, with spreads widening by 6bps. Once again it was a busy week for earnings news, which was the principle driver of volatility for riskier credits that disappointed. UK insurance broker, Towergate, generated the most extreme price action as it announced earnings earlier than expected, which were weak. It reported that profits had fallen by 19% and that its liquidity and covenant headroom would significantly diminish over the coming quarters. Towergate also disclosed that it had received expressions of interests to acquire the business. The trading and liquidity news implied the directors were guiding the market to the fact that a balance sheet restructuring was a strong possibility and this sent its junior bonds down thirty points. Going in the opposite direction were Spanish engineering firm, Abengoa’s bonds. Following the collapse in prices last week over accounting disclosure, management launched a charm offensive to meet investors and calm nerves. This proved effective as its bonds rebounded by twenty points. UK care home operator, Four Seasons, saw its bonds fall nine points after appointing Blackstone as an advisor to examine financial and strategic options which also included a capital structure review. However, the bonds recovered some of this lost ground after reporting earnings, which confirmed trading was bad but not terrible, implying the group has time to reduce leverage before a potential debt restructuring is needed. than the market had expected. Price pressure on new contract wins and a stubborn cost structure are likely to cause earnings to decline for several quarters to come. The group is also facing the prospect of its CEO being placed under house arrest in early December if a Supreme Court judgement goes against him. More positively, Italian gaming operator, Sisal and UK restaurant chain, Pizza Express, reported good numbers which sent their bonds up two and one point respectively. The market is generally ahead of the game when it comes to rating moves but the downgrade of Spanish construction firm, OHL, by Moody’s, from Ba3 to B1 with a negative outlook, caught it off-guard. Its bonds fell four points as the investor perception of BB versus B risk is currently material and the market believed this asset rich, cash poor operator was well positioned to hold onto its BB rating. There were two new issues this week, totalling €450m. These came from existing issuers, German container shipping operator, Hapag Lloyd, and communications equipment producer, Belden. Hapag Lloyd intends to use the proceeds to partially refinance near term maturities and Belden is building a war chest for future acquisitions. Spanish cured meats producer, Campofrio was due to issue this week but a fire at one of its factories resulted in the deal being pulled for the time being. This week saw the outbreak of bird flu in the Netherlands and UK. Poultry and food producer, Boparan, was the hardest hit despite not being directly impacted at this stage. Its bonds are down seven points on this news and also due to weak earnings. Boparan confirmed that it expects a weak current quarter as it invests in marketing and food safety to fight campylobacter. Embattled Italian facility management operator, Manutencoop, saw its bonds slide thirteen points after reporting revenues and profits had fallen by 10% and 32% respectively, which was worse ECM Credit Market Summary 5 Financials Robert Montague Senior Investment Analyst It feels very much like investors and traders have already closed their books for the year with flows being light in European financials even by today’s anaemic standards. Cocos drifted lower on the week. Nevertheless bond syndicates seem determined to launch a series of new issues into an unreceptive market before the window closes for the year. Therefore, it was no surprise that virtually none of these deals have performed. Deutsche Bank issued a $1.5bn 7.5% PNC10 bond (the final part of its planned €5bn AT1 issuance programme) that was soon trading almost a point down. Within the Tier 2 market KBC came with €750m 10NC5 at MS+198; the bond also traded down not helped by the fact that it was issued out of the holdco, KBC Group, given TLAC proposals are fresh in investors’ minds. Erste Bank was the first Austrian bank to brave the Tier 2 market since the Austrian government’s decision to write-off Hypo-Alpe Adria subordinated bonds earlier this year; not surprisingly it received a cool reception, despite being priced at the wide end of initial price talk (5.5-5.625%) with the $500m book barely covered by investor demand. Deals from off-the-run issuers such as Dutch insurer ASR and Dutch Bank NIBC, which intended to launch this week were pulled given the general investor apathy towards new issues. Cardif, BNP Paribas’ insurance subsidiary, launched its maiden subordinated deal this but despite strong domestic demand for French insurance paper, €1bn issue ended the week marginally below re-offer level, reflecting the general malaise in the new issue market. Asset-Backed Securities Maddi Rowlatt Asset Class Specialist, ABS The ECB published the legal act for the long awaited ECB ABS PP on Thursday. The market expected purchases to begin the day after publication but there is no sign of activity from the asset managers appointed to buy, just yet. The document laid out a few extra criteria, mentioning that CMBS would be included in the programme if at least 95% of collateral is Euro denominated and 95% of the properties are located in the euro area. These requirements, in addition to loan by loan reporting, which include true sale and no inclusion of structured loans in the pool mean that no outstanding CMBS are currently eligible. The issue of public (non ECB) participation in retained tranches of ABS was mentioned but without a specific percentage of the tranche that would need to be bought external to the originator or the ECB. The market remains subdued in secondary flows but BWIC activity has been relatively strong this week with both eligible and non-eligible bonds trading well. ECM Credit Market Summary In primary, price guidance for Arena NHG 2014-II, a Dutch RMBS from Delta Lloyd will be announced next week along with Auburn, 8, a UK buy to let RMBS from Capital Home Loans and SUNRI 2014-2, an Italian ABS from Agos Ducato. The time for any further deals being announced and priced this year is very slim so we are unlikely to see a large amount of further new issuance. 6 Emerging Markets Rhys Foulkes Investment Analyst The surprise upset in Romania’s Presidential election last weekend was warmly welcomed by credit markets. Against opinion polling and the first-round result the centre-right candidate, Iohannis Klaus, defeated Prime Minister Viktor Ponta to become the country’s fifth president since the 1989 revolution. The Presidency has control of foreign relations, defence policy and controls the appointment of the judiciary – Iohannis’ campaign focused on his promises to strengthen the judiciary and stamp out corruption, an endemic problem in Romania. Defeated candidate Viktor Ponta, of the centre-left Social Democratic Party, will remain as Prime Minister and has pledged to work with the President on his anti-corruption agenda – a draft bill that would have freed several politicians jailed for corruption has already been scrapped. Both candidates also support the standby-arrangement with the IMF, which has proved an anchor for macroeconomic policy through recent years. Romania’s improving macroeconomic fundamentals, combined with this positive surprise on the political side, has seen credit spreads continuing their two-year long ECM Credit Market Summary compression with the Z-spread on Romania’s 2024 2.875% euro-denominated bond falling to 162bps, from 188bps when it was issued in October. Romania also saw particularly strong economic growth in the third-quarter of 2014, according to data released last week. Real GDP rose 1.9% q-o-q following weakness in the first half of the year. Conversely, most other countries in the region saw a modest slowdown in economic activity. Poland’s real GDP grew 3.3% y-o-y in Q3, compared to a 3.5% expansion in Q2, and Hungary saw 3.2% y-o-y growth, from 3.9% in Q2. Russia posted the region’s weakest pace of growth, at 0.7% y-o-y, and continued deterioration looks likely as sanctions undermine both consumption and investment. As such, it is understandable that Russian credit remains weak – the spread on the sovereign’s 2030 dollar bond briefly touched a three-year high this week. 7 ECM Market Monitor As at 20 November 2014 CREDIT MARKETS* 1WK MTD 2014 YTD 2013 Source EURO CORPORATES -0.17% -0.02% 2.14% 2.72% BofA ML ER00 EURO IG FINANCIALS -0.18% 0.01% 2.26% 3.24% BofA ML EB00 EURO HIGH YIELD -0.32% 0.34% 2.05% 9.95% BofA ML HE00 STERLING NONGILTS -0.27% -0.37% 0.77% 4.63% BofA ML UN00 STERLING IG FINANCIALS -0.26% -0.20% 1.38% 7.47% BofA ML UF00 US CORPORATES -0.35% -0.69% 0.53% 2.86% BofA ML C0A0 US IG FINANCIALS -0.23% -0.32% 1.02% 4.07% BofA ML CF00 US HIGH YIELD -1.00% -1.28% 0.40% 9.19% BofA ML H0A0 0.05% 0.17% 2.84% 9.63% S&P Euro denominated ELLI* 1WK MTD YTD 2013 Source FTSE 100 0.76% 2.44% 2.69% 19.05% UKX INDEX S&P 500 0.71% 1.90% 13.10% 32.37% SPX INDEX -0.53% 5.40% 7.87% 59.37% NKY INDEX 1WK MTD YTD 2013 Source BRENT OIL 1.81% -7.61% -28.40% -0.28% CO1 COMDTY GOLD 2.70% 1.74% -0.98% -28.04% GOLDS COMDTY 1WK MTD YTD 2013 Source USD 0.50% 0.11% -8.76% 4.17% EURUSD CURNCY GBP 0.63% 2.05% -3.75% 2.26% EURGBP CURNCY JPY 2.64% 5.37% Asset-Backed Securities 2.43% 26.45% EURJPY CURNCY 1WK MTD YTD 2013 Source US 10YRS 0.06% 0.14% 7.37% -5.92% ITRR7T10 index GILTS 10YRS 0.66% 1.21% 9.34% -5.08% QX6I index BUNDS 10YRS 0.02% 0.42% 11.23% -1.60% QW3Q index US SWAP 10YRS 0.16% 0.40% 9.12% -7.64% U10C EURO SWAP 10 YRS 0.05% 0.79% 14.00% -2.81% E10C STERLING SWAP 10YRS 0.76% 1.64% 10.98% -6.65% S10C 1WK MTD YTD 2013 Source ITRAXX MAIN -0.04% 0.08% 1.66% 4.04% ERIXITEU index ITRAXX CROSSOVER -0.55% -0.15% 6.83% 17.79% ERIXITXO index EURO LOANS EQUITY MARKETS NIKKEI 225 COMMODITY MARKETS CURRENCY MARKETS VS EUR RATES MARKETS CDS MARKETS Sources: Bloomberg, BofA ML, JPMorgan, Standard and Poors * Credit market returns are excess returns vs. swaps with the exception of S&P Euro denominated ELLI For stocks and indices, the key assumptions are: 1) Dividends are reinvested into the stock or index 2) Total return is in local currency 3) Net dividend is used as default for UK equities and funds. Gross dividend is used for all other securities ECM Credit Market Summary 8 ECM in the Media Recent articles 19 November ECM targets €750 million for new infrastructure debt fund Creditflux 19 November Riskiest Junk Borrowers Imperiled as Borrowing Costs Jump Bloomberg 19 November ECM seeks to exploit European infrastructure market gap with debt fund Portfolio Adviser 19 November Wells Fargo unit to launch Europe infrastructure fund, target $1 bln Reuters, Les Echos/Bourse, Reuters UK, Fidelity, Global News, Venture Capital Post, CityNewsLine.com, Today Online 19 November ECM launches European infrastructure debt fund Citywire Wealth Manager 18 November Big banks find strong appetite for coco bonds Financial Times 04 November Apple said to plan first bond offering in Euros Bloomberg, Bloomberg Businessweek 31 October RAC flexes as investors exploit market weakness Global Capital 24 October Markets punch drunk Investment Europe 24 October EDreams plunges after Iberia, British Airways halt ticketing Bloomberg 24 October European markets show signs of stress Wall Street Journal, NASDAQ, Capital.gr, ADFVN, Markets Spectator 22 October European stocks jump as ECB mulls buying corporate bonds The Wall Street Journal, NASDAQ Click here to view ECM’s press archive ECM Credit Market Summary 9 ECM Asset Management Limited 34 Grosvenor Street, London W1K 4QU Tel: +44 (0) 20 7529 7400 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7529 7411 ECM, Wells Fargo Asset Management and WFAM are trading names of ECM Asset Management Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority This document may be distributed only to persons permitted to receive it under applicable law and may not be distributed or passed to any person in any jurisdiction in which such distribution would violate any applicable law. 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