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“ETFs don't do well in times of crisis,” we were all warned. But during the coronavirus crash, they didn't just do well – investors also bought bond ETFs. Enrico Bruni, head of Europe and Asia at the trading platform Tradeweb, explains why.

Tomorrow the U.S. Treasury will conduct the final reopening of the recently reintroduced 20-year bond. With some semblance of a track record now under its belt, albeit early days, we thought now was a good time to examine how the 20-year’s been received and why it matters.

Since their inception in the early 2000s, fixed income exchange traded funds (ETFs) have always sparked debate among financial markets professionals. Advocates point to the ability to gain instant exposure to a broad range of securities with lower transaction costs and, in some cases, better overall liquidity than the underlying bonds themselves. Detractors warn that the potential for a liquidity mismatch between the ETF and its underlying products could create a recipe for trouble during periods of heightened volatility.

NEW YORK / LONDON – July 16, 2020 – Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW), a leading global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, and Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, announce that Tradeweb and ICE Benchmark Administration Limited (IBA) have published a paper introducing daily Tradeweb ICE Constant Maturity Treasury Rates (Tradeweb ICE CMT Rates) for review and comment by market participants.

The Covid-19 crisis has not only had repercussions for repo market participants by delaying the regulatory deadlines of 2020, like the EU’s Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR), but has significantly altered the trading environment. During the exceptionally stressed conditions experienced in February and March, repo markets stood up well according to a recent survey published by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA). Interestingly, the crisis has validated the electronic model and added greater weight to the debate that embedding electronic workflows is not only necessary for regulatory alignment, but can help market participants navigate the unique set of conditions they have been forced to operate in.

The perfect storm of a global pandemic and an energy price war pushed emerging market fixed income and derivatives markets to the brink in March. As the spread of novel coronavirus and ongoing oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia sparked a flight to safety, credit default swap spreads (CDS) more than tripled in some markets. The massive spike in volatility, which was felt around the world, was most pronounced in Asia, Latin America and EMEA.

The following data is derived from trading activity on the Tradeweb Markets institutional European- and U.S.-listed ETF platforms.

Yields dropped across most sovereign debt markets in June, amid continued central bank stimulus actions to address the economic fallout from COVID-19. Greece and Italy’s 10-year government bonds saw by far the biggest moves during the month. Both countries are eligible for the European Central Bank’s Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) that was expanded by another EUR 600 billion to EUR 1.35 trillion on June 4.

NEW YORK – July 6, 2020 – Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW), a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, will release financial results for the second quarter of 2020 prior to the U.S. market open on Thursday, July 30, 2020 at approximately 7:00 AM EDT.

NEW YORK – July 6, 2020 – Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW), a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, today reported average daily volume (ADV) of $780.9 billion (bn) in June, a decrease of 8.9 percent (%) year over year (YoY). For the second quarter of 2020, Tradeweb reported ADV of $778.4bn, up 3.5% YoY, and preliminary average variable fees per million dollars of volume traded of $2.56.