The US corporate bond market is “on fire” as firms look to take advantage of fall in yields: says Citi’s global debt capital markets head Richard Zogheb in the Financial Times. Companies have sold some USD 153 bn since the beginning of January — the highest start to a year in the market in over three decades.

Why the hype? Borrowers are looking to take advantage of lower borrowing costs, which have fallen since the Fed’s signaled in November that its campaign of interest rate hikes may be over. Investment-grade bond yields are currently at 5.3%, down from over 6% in mid-November.

Banks and entities contributed more than two-thirds of the month’s borrowing: JPMorgan has USD 3.5 bn through bonds since the start of year alongside Wells Fargo that raised USD 8 bn and Morgan Stanley with USD 6.7 bn.

TASI

12,003.66

+0.4% (YTD: +0.3%)

MSCI Tadawul 30

1,556.89

+0.5% (YTD: +0.4%)

USD : SAR (SAMA)

3.75 Sell

3.75 Buy

Interest rates

6% repo

5.5% reverse repo

EGX30

27,719.37

+3.3% (YTD: +11.4%)

ADX

9,712.40

-0.1% (YTD: +1.4%)

DFM

4,081.71

+0.7% (YTD: +0.5%)

S&P 500

4,839.81

+1.2% (YTD: +1.5%)

FTSE 100

7,461.93

+0.04% (YTD: -3.5%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,448.83

-0.1% (YTD: -1.6%)

Brent crude

USD 78.56

-0.7%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.52

-6.6%

Gold

USD 2,048.60

+0.4%

BTC

USD 41,694.14

-0.2% (YTD: +83%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The TASI rose 0.4% yesterday on turnover of SAR 6.6 bn. The index is up 0.3% YTD.

In the green: MBC Group (+10%), Jamjoom Pharma (+9.9%) and Takween(+9.9%).

In the red: Riyadh Cement (-3.2%), Arabian Drilling (-2.7%) and Care (-2.7%).

CORPORATE ACTIONS-

Almasane Alkobra Mining Company (Amak) appointed Al Rajhi Capital as market maker for its shares for six months, subject to regulatory approvals. The appointment comes under a plan by the company to support liquidity in shares trading. Separately, Amak began disbursing a dividend of SAR 0.7 per share to its shareholders for the second half of FY 2023.

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