Euro & Sterling Weekly: UK ‘Steels’ a Deal

Credit Markets: Spreads tightened across Euro IG & HY but were unchanged in Sterling IG this past week even as the beginnings of a US-UK trade deal saw a walk back in the 25% tariff on the UK steel exports to the US, yet a 10% US tariff rate stands on most UK goods exports to the US. Meanwhile, the Bank of England its main bank lending rate 25 bp to 4.25%, Friedrich Merz officially passed a second round vote to become Chancellor of Germany and Eurozone composite PMI topped expectations. Euro IG spreads tightened 4 bp to 104 bp, Sterling IG spreads ended the week unchanged at 115 bp despite widening at the beginning of the week, and Euro HY spreads tightened 16 bp to 349 bp. At the same time, yields narrowed 1 bp in Euro IG to 3.2%, rose 6 bp in Sterling IG to 5.5% and declined 14 bp in Euro HY to 5.8%, resulting in weekly total returns of +0.1%, -0.3% and +0.5%, respectively. iTraxx Main and Crossover tightened 4 bp and 14 bp, respectively. In FX markets, EUR declined 0.9% against USD, while GBP depreciated 0.1% versus USD.