To guarantee or not to guarantee

It was interesting to observe Mike Smith, CEO of ANZ, come out last week and call for the abolition of the government guarantee for bank debt. In fact, Smith called on all governments to scrap the gua.. read more

ABS defaults increasing

Moody's Investor Service released its first Australian ABS Performance Review last week. This is a new quarterly publication commenting on trends in the ABS market as well as providing detailed perfor.. read more

Let's go to Rio

The rating agencies all reacted favourably to Rio Tinto's dumping of Chinalco in favour of a US$15 billion rights issue and iron ore joint venture with BHP Billiton. S&P placed the 'BBB' long-term.. read more

May a watershed month

May 2009 may have been a watershed month for the recovery of the domestic corporate bond market. This is not to say that the market has recovered, which it certainly hasn't, but some clear signals eme.. read more

Bond issuance down in New Zealand

It appears that Bank of New Zealand is preparing to follow Westpac Securities NZ with a government guaranteed, US dollar denominated, bond issue. Reuters reported that the bank expected to issue US$75.. read more

Supply fears not apparent in Australia

While Australian bond yields have risen largely in tandem with US bond yields, supply issues don't seem to be overly concerning investors. Yields on 10-year Commonwealth government bonds peaked last w.. read more

Supply torrent drives government bond yields

The big concern for markets last week was rapidly rising government bond yields. This was most prominent in the United States where a US$3 trillion plus budget deficit needs to be funded this year. read more

NZ budget receives tick of approval

New Zealanders learnt last week that they are going to be in deficit for the better part of the next decade and that their government's net debt will peak at 43 per cent of GDP in the 2016-17 fiscal y.. read more