The credit markets were relatively subdued over the past week amid the holidays. Spreads finished the week 1–2 basis points (bps) tighter, supported by a rates selloff and lower-than-expected jobless claims. In sovereigns, Indonesian bonds continued to attract strong demand, while activity in Philippine bonds remained muted following pockets of onshore buying earlier in the week. In the corporate bond space, flows were generally quiet, with most of the activity concentrated in ACEN Corp.’s financing arm’s perpetual bond with 5.1% coupon and BDO Unibank Inc.’s 5-year bond. Over the weekend, geopolitical tensions rose following reports of a confrontation between the US and Venezuela, as US forces detained Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro. Despite these developments, credit spreads opened largely unchanged. Market players’ attention is shifting toward new issuance, with deals such as that of Hyundai Capital America already emerging in the primary market.

•  The US Initial Jobless Claims for the week ended Dec. 27 came lower than expected at 199,000 versus 218,000 in a Bloomberg Survey.
• The US Continuing Jobless Claims for the week ended Dec. 20 came in lower than expected at 1,866,000 versus 1,901,700 in a Bloomberg Survey
• The S&P US Global US Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for December was 51.8, which is in line with Bloomberg Survey.