UBS launches tender offer for some of its own bail-in notes issued ahead of Credit Suisse deal

UBS launches tender offer for some of its own bail-in notes issued ahead of Credit Suisse deal

UBS Group AG said Wednesday that it is launching a tender for senior bail-in notes worth 2.75 billion euros ($2.96 billion) in aggregate that were issued last week, just before its agreement to take over rival Credit Suisse Group AG. The Swiss bank UBS, +11.97% UBSG, +12.12% said it is offering holders of EUR1.5 billion…

First Republic Bank’s debt cut to junk by Moody’s

First Republic Bank’s debt cut to junk by Moody’s

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded its credit rating on First Republic Bank to junk late Friday, citing a “deterioration in the bank’s financial profile.” First Republic’s FRC, -32.80% debt rating was cut to B2 from Baa1, Moody’s said. Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings downgraded First Republic Bank’s debt earlier this week. The downgrade reflects “the…

First Republic Bank downgraded to ‘junk’ by S&P on risk of deposit flight

First Republic Bank downgraded to ‘junk’ by S&P on risk of deposit flight

First Republic Bank absorbed debt rating downgrades from three major bond research firms Wednesday as concerns mounted it will suffer further deposit flight that will hurt already modest profitability. S&P Global Ratings downgraded its issuer credit rating on First Republic Bank by four notches to BB-plus from A-minus on Wednesday, placing it in speculative grade,…

Moody’s serves downgrade warnings to six regional banks, including First Republic

Moody’s serves downgrade warnings to six regional banks, including First Republic

Moody’s late on Monday put six banks on review for possible downgrade as it also said it will withdraw ratings on collapsed Signature Bank. The downgrade warnings may put further pressure on regional banks after the collapse of SVB Financial SIVB and Signature Bank SBNY. The warnings were on First Republic, Intrust Financial , UMB…

S&P downgrades Bed Bath & Beyond, says beleaguered retailer has ‘insufficient funds’ to repay its financial obligations

S&P downgrades Bed Bath & Beyond, says beleaguered retailer has ‘insufficient funds’ to repay its financial obligations

S&P Global Ratings downgraded Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.’s credit Friday, a day after the beleaguered retailer said it was in default on loans that have been called in. The default filing sent Bed Bath & Beyond’s BBBY, +1.19% stock plunging, although it rallied to end Friday’s session up 1.2%, outpacing the S&P 500 Index’s…

Coinbase to close operations in Japan in February

Coinbase to close operations in Japan in February

Crypto exchange Coinbase COIN, +8.32% has announced it will cease operations in Japan, citing unstable “market conditions” in a blog post on Wednesday. Customers in Japan will have until Feb. 16 to withdraw fiat deposits and crypto holdings. After that date, all remaining crypto holdings on the exchange in the country will be converted into…

Country Garden to raise HK$4.81 billion in share placement to refinance offshore debt

Country Garden to raise HK$4.81 billion in share placement to refinance offshore debt

Country Garden Holdings Co. 2007, +2.26% plans to raise gross proceeds of almost 4.81 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$618.5 million) in a share placement to refinance offshore debt. The Chinese property developer, which for years ranked as the country’s top real-estate developer by contracted sales, said Wednesday that it would place 1.78 billion new shares…

Rising sea levels put Miami, New York at biggest risk for severe and extreme flooding at commercial properties

Rising sea levels put Miami, New York at biggest risk for severe and extreme flooding at commercial properties

Billions of dollars worth of office buildings, retail centers and apartment buildings in coastal U.S. cities sit in the path of major flooding as sea levels rise, according to a new DBRS Morningstar report. The credit rating agency looked at a snapshot of roughly 47,000 buildings that it monitors out of the roughly $670 billion…

This investment strategy acts on 18 trends to cut your risk when the stock market is volatile

This investment strategy acts on 18 trends to cut your risk when the stock market is volatile

Managed futures strategies can be helpful to investors during times of economic uncertainty. The strategies seek to take advantage of price trends — up or down — and produce positive returns that offset declines elsewhere. Having some money committed to a managed futures strategy can lower a portfolio’s overall risk and potentially keep an investor…

Ford’s green bond sees $5 billion in demand as Biden signs climate bill

Ford’s green bond sees $5 billion in demand as Biden signs climate bill

Investors swarmed over Ford Motor Co.’s new $1.75 billion green-bond deal on Tuesday to help boost its development of more electric vehicles. Order books for Ford’s F, +0.67% speculative-grade debt deal reached more than $5 billion, according to a portfolio manager and Informa Global Markets, which helped the auto giant achieve cheaper funding than initially…

Opinion: Junk bonds aren’t as junky as investors think – which makes them a good contrarian buy

Opinion: Junk bonds aren’t as junky as investors think – which makes them a good contrarian buy

High-yield debt of riskier companies is not as junky as investors believe. So these bonds have sold off too much. Consider finding a place for them in your investment portfolio: Junk bonds are now a source of decent dividend yield and potential capital appreciation – and a compelling contrarian play. “I’ve been doing this a…

Why the stock market and bonds may be at the mercy of oil prices the next 6 months

Why the stock market and bonds may be at the mercy of oil prices the next 6 months

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell last month said the central bank is focusing on headline inflation, rather than core inflation, in a news conference following the Fed’s biggest rate hike in decades. While the jumbo rate hike received much of the attention, Powell’s other comments on inflation cemented another important reality for markets. And that…

Big-name investors are back putting more ‘junk’ in their funds, despite the carnage in bonds

Big-name investors are back putting more ‘junk’ in their funds, despite the carnage in bonds

Wall Street investors specialized in buying risky forms of corporate debt to slice-and-dice into securities have added an estimated $2 billion in high-yield, or “junk bonds,” to their funds already this year, according to an analysis by BofA Global. Funds managed by the Carlyle Group Inc. CG, +1.36%, KKR & Co. Inc. KKR, +0.95% and…

This segment of the corporate bond market is flashing a warning that investors shouldn’t ignore

This segment of the corporate bond market is flashing a warning that investors shouldn’t ignore

U.S. stocks just cemented their worst start to a year in more than half a century. But as the slowdown in the U.S. economy becomes increasingly difficult to ignore, the market for high-yield corporate bonds — often referred to as “junk bonds,” a Wall Street sobriquet for the debt of companies with less-than-stellar credit ratings…

Stocks still have an ‘unusually high’ number of buy ratings despite inflation, recession worries

Stocks still have an ‘unusually high’ number of buy ratings despite inflation, recession worries

Despite a flurry of macroeconomic pressures, Wall Street analysts still feel very bullish about the stocks they cover. That’s according to FactSet’s senior earnings analyst, John Butters, who noted that the number of buy ratings on stocks remains “unusually high,” despite broader-market concerns about inflation, interest rate hikes, the war in Ukraine, falling stock prices…