Business

As a result of the rush to global NIRP, which now sees central banks and their sovereigns accounting for over 25% of global GDP, amounting to around $6 trillion in government bonds, trading with negative yields, a question has emerged: when will corporate bonds follow this govvie juggernaut and how soon until investors pay not government but companies to borrow?

That is the focal piece in today's note by our favorite DB credit strategist Jim Reid who muses as follows:

The ink was not yet dry on the seemingly endless Monsanto-Syngenta on again/off again takeover drama, when moments ago in a shocking development the newswires were lit up with news that a new, and very much unexpected, bidder has emerged for the Swiss pesticides giant Syngenta: China National Chemical Corp, or ChemChina as it is known, which according to WSJ and BBG is set to pay $43.7 billion to acquire a piece of Swiss corporate history.

• Punxsutawney Phil Does Not see shadow, signifying an early spring (CBS)
• Front-Runners Give Ground as Rivals Make Mark in Iowa (WSJ)
• Republican Cruz bests Trump in Iowa race, Clinton edges out Sanders (Reuters)
• Iowa Narrows the Field (BBG)
• Global stocks snap winning streak as oil pressure returns (Reuters)
• ‘Dark Pool’ Settlements Bring Tangled Relationships to Light (WSJ)
• BP Shares Plunge on Steep Loss Amid Oil Price Slide (WSJ)
• UBS Shares Tank on Wealth-Management Performance (WSJ)

It certainly does feel like groundhog day today because while last week's near record oil surge is long forgotten, and one can debate the impact the result of last night's Iowa primary which saw Trump disappoint to an ascendant Ted Cruz while Hillary and Bernie were practically tied, one thing is certain: today's continued decline in crude, which has seen Brent and WTI both tumble by over 3% has once again pushed global stocks and US equity futures lower, offsetting the euphoria from last night's earnings beat by Google which made Alphabet the largest company in th

Moments after the "disestablishment" Ted Cruz (even if Goldman may have a lien or two on said disestablishmentarianism), was announced to be the winner of the Iowa Caucus, a most unexpected commentator appeared among the flood of the otherwise traditional Twitter noise with what can only be classified as the pinnacle of polarizing political commentary.