Canada

Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec (CCDJ), Compagnie de Financement Foncier (CFF) and Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt (Svegno) were set to issue covered bonds with zero new issue premiums on Thursday. But after a surprisingly busy week, the market is now "running out of steam" with order books were much slower to build and subscription ratios far lower than transactions issued earlier this week.

Fédération des Caisses Desjardins du Québec (CCDJ) mandated leads on Wednesday for a five year and Compagnie de Financement Foncier (CFF) mandated leads for a 10 year deal, to take advantage of exceptionally strong market conditions with both deals likely to be launched on Thursday.

French agency Cades will debut its social bond framework in dollars on Tuesday, less than a week after it raised the largest ever bond in the format with its inaugural issue in euros. It will share the market with the International Development Association (IDA), which is preparing to kick off its 2020/21 funding year with a sustainable development benchmark of its own.

China’s Zijin Mining Co has returned to the loan market for an $800m deal to refinance a borrowing used for its acquisition of Nevsun Resources.

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has become the first issuer to guard against negative rates in the sterling market by structuring a Sonia-linked senior deal with an artificially high coupon.

Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark and bid-yields from the close of business on Monday, July 27. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services.

Reform of the US government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) has always been considered a necessary precursor to establishing a US covered bond legal framework. But with the Covid-19 crisis and November’s presidential elections diverting attention, dollar covered bond issuance will remain dominated by foreign banks, with near term supply prospects likely to be determined by the cross-currency basis swap.

CPPIB Capital mandated banks on Friday for its third dollar benchmark this year as it looks to jump on the back of a strong reception for Canadian and Japanese borrowers in the currency this week.

A trio of SSA borrowers hit the market for dollar paper this week, testing the waters across the curve and finding investors receptive. Although the top tier names are mostly well funded, demand is still hot for the extra yield offered by the second layer of SSA borrowers.

The Province of Alberta hit the market for a 10 year deal, raising $2bn and impressing onlookers with a solid order book. Its peer Quebec will follow up on Thursday with a five year. But despite Alberta's success, further supply at the tenor may be limited.

Investors appeared to be more sensitive of price movements in new issues of covered bonds this week, with valuations in the asset class having returned to within touching distance of their January levels.

Barrick Gold Corp has raised HK$1.63bn ($209.7m) after paring most of its stake in Chinese firm Shandong Gold Corp.