US banks are confident that trading this quarter will be up from year-ago levels to rubber stamp a third successive year of higher annual markets revenues amid a step-up in volumes as clients have repositioned portfolios and hedging for currency, interest rate and commodity volatility.

An unprecedented overhaul of Europe’s largest pension system is set to send shockwaves through the €178trn euro swap market in the coming weeks as more than half a trillion euros of assets in Dutch pension funds start shifting to a new regulatory regime from January 1.

Most prospectuses contain a line so familiar that eyes slide straight past it: “We intend to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes.” It sounds comfortably dull.

JP Morgan looks set to be the big banking winner from the emerging bidding war for Warner Bros Discovery, as it is advising the company on approaches from Netflix for the company's film studio and streaming assets and a competing bid from Paramount for the whole company. Media boutique Allen & Co and independent investment bank Evercore are also advising WBD.

Paramount Skydance’s US$108.4bn hostile bid for Warner Bros Discovery is upending both companies’ bond prices as investors assess the consequences of an acquisition that would layer billions of US dollars of debt onto an already complex balance sheet. 

Argentina returned to the dollar market for the first time since 2018 on Wednesday, raising US$1bn through a local-law issue designed to refinance maturing debt obligations, as the country prepares to re-enter the international market.

Belgian insurer Ageas showed that demand for capital remains high even as the year-end nears, bringing a highly sought-after €450m perpetual non-call nine-year Restricted Tier 1 issue on Tuesday. The deal quickly followed the announcement of a two-leg M&A transaction with BNP Paribas. 

US dollar and euro bond volume from Japanese issuers climbed in 2025 as rising yen interest rates and large funding needs drove borrowers to the international market – trends that are expected to continue in the new year.

 EQR 1 PLC, an equity release RMBS originated by Legal & General Group, was preplaced in an otherwise muted European securitisation market on Tuesday.

Blackstone prepared to pay itself a US$231m dividend as part of a jumbo commercial mortgage bond sale backed by one of the private equity firm’s retail and entertainment complexes on the Las Vegas Strip.

Landmark Dividend returned to the ABS market with its first ever cell tower securitisation, adding to a growing list of deals backed by the real-estate management company's diverse portfolio of assets.

Willis Lease Finance on Thursday sold a US$392.9m four-year securitisation on its return to the ABS market to refinance deals backed by plane engines and frames that are now in high demand due to the scarcity of new aircraft. 

The World Bank is poised to take its pioneering US$1bn outcome bond programme into new territory following its first ITMO carbon credits deal last week, and structures linked to impact funds rather than specific projects and deals in euros are among the innovations ahead, according to a senior official.

Orange gender bonds are gathering momentum globally and more could be issued in 2026 in Japan, as the country's newly elected female political leadership is expected to focus on closing the country's gender gap. Further issuance could also be seen in emerging markets. 

The Climate Bonds Initiative has approved S&P Global Ratings as an external reviewer under its global climate bonds standard and certification scheme in a move that is expected to help issuance of sustainable debt.

Italy has updated its green BTP framework to align with the country's evolving environmental priorities and market standards and give more detailed disclosure around the EU Taxonomy of sustainable activities. 

With 18 banks on board, the syndicate for ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company's IPO is the largest ever seen in India, but only two banks – Citigroup and ICICI Securities – are playing meaningful roles in marketing and pricing the deal and filling the anchor book, according to people with knowledge of the deal. 

Private equity-backed Medline launched a US$5.4bn Nasdaq IPO on Monday, positioning itself as a mature business still primed for growth, with roughly half the offering already allocated.

CoreWeave spent nearly US$300m of the proceeds from its new US$2.25bn convertible bond on an equity derivative that effectively lifts the conversion threshold to more than five times the valuation at the AI data centre lessor's IPO in March.

Driven by a perfect storm of stock gains, an uptick in sector M&A and the afterglow of a major healthcare conference, biotech issuance resumed in force as eight drug developers combined for a record US$3.5bn on Tuesday night from marketed stock sales.  

Competing bids to acquire Warner Bros Discovery and the mammoth bridge loans backing both proposed deals have marked the return of big-ticket financings and renewed confidence that debt markets have the capacity – and the risk appetite – to underwrite jumbo M&A deals.

After clearing away the easier part of the refinancing backlog, bankers are now starting to work through a pile of lower-rated borrowers with looming maturities and fewer viable options. 

Italian tech firm Bending Spoons is hoping to make inroads into a CLO buyer base that has so far proved reluctant to engage with a fast-growing, highly acquisitive company with a novel business model.

After a year in which private credit muscled its way into the biggest financings, direct lenders are cautiously optimistic about a greater abundance of investment opportunities as merger and acquisition activity shows early signs of life.