Secondary trading

Cat bond prices in the secondary market edged upwards early in February, as the market waited for the New Year's issuance to kick-start

A record "wall of maturities" due in the cat bond market over the first half of 2017 may result in volumes shrinking temporarily, but favourable conditions in the sector could produce record volumes of new deals, according to Swiss Re Capital Markets.

Further detail has emerged on RenaissanceRe's new $140mn Fibonacci Re vehicle, which has been described as a hybrid cat bond/sidecar facility

Markdowns to the Gator Re cat bonds in late November caused average cat bond spreads to spike heading into the end of the year, according to data from RMS.

Returns from investing in so-called "deadcat" bonds - transactions that are nearing maturity and face little or no further catastrophe risk - have softened this year, in a reflection of generally tighter ILS market conditions.

The volume of livecat trading of industry loss warranties (ILWs) prompted by Hurricane Matthew may have reached up to $150mn-$200mn, according to sources contacted by Trading Risk.

Cat bond prices in secondary trading had recovered to pre-Hurricane Matthew levels by the end of last week (14 October), rising by 1.57 percent to 95.53 as the storm's impact proved to be less severe than anticipated.

Gator Re prices have regained further ground as the bond approaches maturity without covered losses notably rising.

Cat bond yields continued to fall in late summer, as half of the hurricane season elapsed without a US storm threat.

ILS fund returns averaged 0.40 percent in July as managers escaped losses from storms and flooding during the month, according to the Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index

Risk-adjusted cat bond spreads recovered some ground in June as the ILS market earned incremental premium from higher-risk deals, according to RMS data.

Gator Re regained some value on the secondary market during trading in late June and early July, according to Finra Trace data