A tale of two issuers: South Africa and Saudi Arabia

Send us Fan Mail◆ Which banks sell in run-up to rate cuts◆ South Africa election and the bond market◆ Saudi Arabia leaves peers behindRates volatility returned to the European FIG market this week. We ask what credits investors are buying ahead of a key ECB monetary policy meeting, when it is expected to cut interest rates, and why.South Africa's election this week was, at the time of writing, likely to result in the African National Congress losing its exclusive grip on power for the first time in 30 years. We discuss what that and the likely outcomes mean for the bond market.As Saudi Arabia returned to the debt markets with another blockbuster sukuk, we examine just where the issuer sits in the debt capital markets and how it manages to keep investors keen when it has to raise so much compared to its peers.