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.

ADX

4,081

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DFM

9,712

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Nasdaq Dubai UAE20

3,870

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USD : AED CBUAE

Buy 3.67

Sell 3.67

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THE CLOSING BELL-

The ADX rose 0.7% on Fridayon turnover of AED 980.6 mn. The index is up 0.5% YTD.

In the green: Al Wathba National Ins. (+14.4%), Gulf Pharma (+11.6%) and Investcorp Capital (+9.2%).

In the red: Abu Dhabi National Takaful (-9.3%), Gulf Cement (-7.2%) and National Corporation for Tourism and Hotels (-6.3%).

Over on the DFM, the index fell 0.1% on turnover of AED 94 mn, while the Nasdaq Dubai closed up 1%.

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