On January 23, Italian utility A2A made history by issuing a EUR 500 million bond, marking the first-ever European Green Bond (EuGB). Fully aligned with the EU Taxonomy, the bond will finance projects in renewable energy, grid infrastructure, energy efficiency, and waste management. With a final order book exceeding EUR 2.2 billion and no new issue premium, its strong secondary market performance underscores robust investor demand.

Brazil’s central bank raised its rate by 100bps to 12.25%, as expected by the markets, and restored its forward guidance, anticipating two further 100bp hikes at the next two meetings, reaching 14.25%, but leaving the bank’s outlook for a terminal rate data dependent.

As we approach the end of the year, at a time when inflation in Europe is close to target but growth continues to point to prolonged stagnation, we take stock of what the ECB have done so far and what we think the way forward should be.