Europe

While many have repeatedly warned over the past year that the record gains in credit are simply too good to stay - especially in Europe where yields and spreads have collapsed largely thanks to the ECB's relentless purchases of corporate debt, with the central bank announcing on Monday it held a record €127.7bn in bonds under its CSPP program - few are as bearish on credit as Morgan Stanley, which today issued ots 2018 US Credit Outlook which is, in a word, "dire."

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, countries all over the world suffered dire consequences. The irresponsibility of the globe’s biggest banking institutions, institutional investors, regulators, and consumers plunged economies in the United States, Europe, and Asia into a panic. The blame lies with those who exercised poor judgment in their creation and sale of shoddy derivative assets, but also with regulators for perpetuating a broken system of opacity.

As part of the macro forecast in his just released 2018 Credit Outlook (more on that in a subsequent post), DB's Jim Reid first looks back at the almost concluded 2017 and muses that "whichever way you cut it, it’s likely that 2017 will go down as one of, if not the least, volatile year ever for the vast majority of asset classes. The recent sell-off in early/mid November has been a bit of a wake-up call but overall this remains a blip." In fact, it makes him wonder if 2017 was "the most boring year ever?"

It's a busy week as traders return from the long Thanksgiving holiday, with inflation releases in the Eurozone and Japan. We'll also get the second estimate of US GDP, housing data and ISM manufacturing, UK monetary aggregates and PMIs in China. Finally, the Russia-OPEC meeting takes place in Vienna on November 30, while the Senate hearing of Fed chair nominee Powell and Yellen's testimony before Congress will be closely watched. The Senate tax vote, tentatively expected on Thursday, will be the week's key event.

The traditionally illiquid post-Thanksgiving week has started with a series of whipsaws across stocks and bonds, as European stocks turned positive after starting the day on the back foot, initially mirroring a slide in Chinese stocks and price action in U.S. equity futures as investors look to a possible - and absolutely critical - tax-plan vote in the Senate this week.