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In our ongoing look at debt issuance and its effect on secondary market dynamics, we focus this month on U.S. corporate credit and how record issuance is opening opportunities for sophisticated traders to create liquidity in less-liquid bonds by using the portfolio trading protocol.

2020 has evidently been an interesting year and some unique trends occurred in the electronic marketplace for European government bonds as a result. No one could have ever anticipated or predicted a year quite like the one we've had, both the buy- and the sell-side have had to adapt quickly in order to successfully navigate these markets.

From major changes to QFII and all the way down to a wide range of micro adjustments, 2020 was a period of significant progress for fixed-income markets in China.

NEW YORK – January 5, 2021 – 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 fourth quarter of 2020 on Thursday, February 4, 2021 at approximately 7:00 AM EST.

NEW YORK – January 6, 2020 – Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW), a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, today reported total trading volume for December of $18.2 trillion (tn). Average daily volume (ADV) for the month was $834.5 billion (bn), an increase of 28.0 percent (%) year over year (YoY).

It seems like most people just want 2020 to end – a global health and economic crisis will get that reaction. The magnitude of lives lost and livelihoods destroyed has been enormous, not to mention the impact it has had on virtually every aspect of society. From education and transportation to housing and mental health – the toll of this crisis has been felt in every aspect of our daily lives.

Sovereign bonds for developed markets reached an inauspicious milestone last month when the yields on every single European 2-year benchmark government bond fell into negative territory. Europe, of course is not alone in its run of record-low yields. Major markets around the world, from Japan to the U.S. are all experiencing historically low yields as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to push investors into safe havens.

Pandemic-era volatility has helped portfolio trading in corporate bonds quietly turn a corner in 2020 even as the fixed-income spotlight has fallen on the rise of bond ETFs and bond-market electronification more generally.

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

Government bond yields began to rise in November across most major sovereign markets. A notable exception was Greece’s 10-year bond mid-yield, which dropped nearly 30 basis points to close the month at a record low of 0.63%. The country’s government issued new lockdown orders on November 7 as part of its efforts to deal with a surge in Covid-19 cases. In a report released in early November, the European Commission projected Greek GDP would shrink by 9% this year, but grow by 5% in 2021.