US activity up, European down, but bid-ask spreads are tight all over
As we move into summer of 2026, central bank activity is strikingly different from where markets started the year, and it is directly legible...
How markets in ‘Trumpril’ 2026 compare with last year’s vol bout
The Trump administration’s love of shaking things up each April – and then backing off again in response to the apparently unexpected results –...
Data shows electronic trading has delivered resilience to US markets
The latest data from MarketAxess’s TraX data tool, which follows activity across multiple marketplaces, and its CP+ pricing tool, show that US markets, particularly...
IG and HY trade size trending back to pre-consolidated tape patterns
After converging sharply in January, average trade size in euro investment grade (IG) and high yield (HY) has begun to separate again, while bid-ask...
Bond markets see trading costs bounce
Average bid-ask spreads have been expanding and contracting like an accordion as investors and liquidity providers struggle to form a coherent view on inflation,...
Buy-side traders become invaluable during crisis
The Iran war is clearly visible in parts of corporate bond pricing and emerging market trade sizes, but other parts of the market appear...
US credit volumes drop but trade sizes and costs stay flat
US corporate bond markets have seen volumes drop across investment grade and high yield trading in February 2025, however according to data from MarketAxess...
Is Europe’s consolidated tape already shaping trade sizes?
Trade sizes in Europe’s corporate bond markets are aligning across investment grade (IG) and high yield (HY) sectors, while the US markets are still...
Risk-off showing in corporate bond trading costs
The rigid grip on safer assets that investors have taken over the past two weeks has clearly shown in trading costs as bid-ask spreads...
Visualising the cost of credit trading cut in half since 2023
Credit markets have seen bid-ask spreads, a proxy for trading costs for the buy-side, tighten further in the first two weeks of 2026, relative...
