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◆ Why buy bonds when spreads are so tight

◆ Using tech to unearth new economic signals

◆ Playing the shifting relative value pitch

This week, in an exclusive interview with world's largest investment manager, BlackRock, we discussed how much tighter credit spreads can go, what is driving it and how the company is adjusting to underlying shifts in relative value.

We also debated tech: whether digitalisation of the bond market is all it's cracked up to be for the buy-side and how BlackRock is using technology to find new economic signals to guide investment decisions — especially prevalent at a time when traditional sources, such as government publications, may be turning less representative and reliable.

We talked about all of this and more with Simon Blundell, BlackRock's head of European fundamental fixed income investments. BlackRock is the world's largest investment firm, running $12.5tr of assets.

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◆ Italy dazzles with size as we launch our new MTN Awards

◆ Enel snubs the market it created

◆ Record month for CEEMEA bond issuers

Italy showed just what the medium term note market can do for borrowers this week as it priced a €700m deal. We examine what the benefits were to the issuer.

We are also launching our first ever dedicated MTN Awards. We tell you how they will be awarded and how to take part but you can also click here to find out more.

We also discuss what Enel's decision to ditch sustainability-linked bonds means for the product that it created. The SLB market has slowed of late but we argue that there is plenty of life in it yet.

Meanwhile, there was no let-up in the pace of emerging market bond issuance this week. We look at who brought deals and why the market is so hot right now.

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◆ QNB deal to pique Gulf interest in euro issuance

◆ Denmark develops green market with EuGB

◆ Foreign AT1s return to Aussie market

GlobalCapital began life in 1987 as a weekly newspaper called EuroWeek, dedicated to tracking the international flows of capital developing in the growing Eurobond market. This week provided some classic examples of the genre as borrowers looked abroad for new sources of cash.

QNB, a Qatar bank, priced an eye-catching bond in euros this week. It was the issuer's first in the currency and offered a tantalising glimpse of an underexploited pool of cash to Gulf borrowers. We discuss why the region's issuers can and should visit the market.

Denmark, meanwhile, may not have come to the international markets but it did do an important green bond — one that adhered to the European Union Green Bond Standard. We delve into why this trade was such an important development for this nascent asset class.

Finally, UBS brought the first additional tier one bond in Australian dollars for six years. Again, the deal will tip off other big European banks that there is cash to be raised in the Australian market. We explain why AT1s work in Aussie dollars even after the Australian regulator binned the asset class for its own banks in what is an illustrative tale of how important the market is becoming to international bond issuers.

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◆ Bank issuers and investors anticipate EBA report on regulatory equivalence

◆ Mediobanca enters its Monte dei Paschi era

◆ The case for not keeping Russia's money

The bank finance industrial complex descended on Seville this week for the European Covered Bond Council Plenary, FT Live's Covered Bond Congress and GlobalCapital's Covered Bond Awards.

This annual series of events captures more than just what is happening in the covered bond market and has become a major date for anyone involved in how banks finance themselves. But one key area of debate was how different regulatory regimes will treat the asset class. Florian Eichert, head of covered bond and SSA research at Crédit Agricole joined us to discuss the latest developments.

Meanwhile, Mediobanca is adjusting to life as part of the Banca Monte dei Paschi family. We discuss how the Italian investment bank will adjust to its new owners.

Finally, we examine whether calls to seize Russian assets held within the EU are all that smart and what the risks of doing so might be.

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◆ Colombia turns from Swiss francs to eurozone in funding flurry

◆ CEEMEA issuers enjoy purple patch

◆ A test for US auto ABS as Europe's RMBS market gets boost

Colombia has been on a world tour of debt markets lately. It priced a bond in euros this week for the first time in years, following a gargantuan loan in Swiss francs last month. We find out what the Latin America sovereign is up to.

It wasn't the only emerging markets issuer making a splash recently either. We investigate why the market is so hot for these credits and what deals are left to be done.

Meanwhile in the US, a car finance company called Tricolor has sought bankruptcy protection. The firm is also an ABS issuer. We discuss what the situation means for its outstanding paper and the banks that provided it with warehouse financing.

Finally, the European RMBS market has had a subdued year. Two securitizations of Santander mortgage portfolios by two US banks have given it a boost this week. But, we ask, why couldn't Santander — a veteran of the asset class — securitize the portfolios itself?

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◆ Record Gilt and hot sterling bonds give the lie to ‘UK crisis’ chatter

◆ Emerging market bonds bask in rampant demand

◆ Qualms creep into public sector bonds as investors get choosy

In a week of sharp contrasts, parts of the bond market are enjoying exceptional conditions for issuance, while others are feeling uneasy. Sometimes both interpretations are given of the same market — like sterling bonds, which have been hammered in the press this week as about to spiral into another ‘Liz Truss moment’.

To sterling bond professionals, the media doom-mongering is like a lurid dream — it has scant connection with reality.

On the very day that caused most alarm, when the 30 year Gilt yield spiked to a 27 year high, the UK calmly issued its largest ever Gilt — and plenty of corporate and bank issuers made hay in the market too.

In the emerging markets of central and eastern Europe and the Middle East (CEEMEA), investor demand is red-blooded, and issuers are responding with waves of deals. The market is on course to break records, but borrowers can still trip up if they price too aggressively.

Supranational, sovereign and agency bonds are flecked with light and shadow. While deals like the UK’s and Italy’s have blown out and set new highs, the odd issuer amid the throng has found the market surprisingly hard going. The mood has cooled since August — what will happen next week when the French government is likely to fall?

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◆ How French issuers are responding to political ructions

◆ French corporate, agency, bank and sovereign bonds discussed

◆ French lender brings innovative European Defence Bond

French prime minister Francois Bayrou's decision this week to hold a confidence vote in his government is likely to be a key influence on European capital markets for the immediate future and possibly beyond.

We discuss how it is affecting the borrowing costs and behaviour of different issuers from the country and further afield — from its agencies and the European supranationals, whose spreads took a hit this week, to its investment grade companies, which did some surprising deals.

We also look at an innovative deal from French bank BPCE. It priced a bond the proceeds of which will finance defence. Rising defence spending will be a huge and controversial topic for the capital markets and society for years to come so we examined whether this new label would be one that will stick, what it can achieve for the issuer and the defence industry, and what we can deduce from the execution given the politically-driven market volatility.

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◆ Why investors are piling into SSA bonds despite the tight spreads

◆ Bank AT1 issuers spy chance

◆ EDF pioneers in Kangaroo market

Benchmark bond issuance resumed across asset classes this week. In the SSA market, we investigated why issuers were able to build record order books for huge bonds when spreads are so tight.

We also inspected a restricted tier one deal from Allianz to see what it meant for banks looking to issue their version of that level of capital — additional tier one.

Finally, we looked at a rare trade from France's EDF in the Kangaroo market. Aussie dollar funding is of growing importance to the world's bond issuers so we looked into what the implications of this long-dated deal would be for other companies.