Markit has launched a new web-based credit default swap (CDS) data and information portal, which it says is designed to increase transparency in the traditionally opaque market. The service can be used as a market monitoring tool and the data vendor indicates it includes a calculator to support the current market migration to a standardised CDS contract and quoting convention.
Armins Rusis, global co-head of fixed income at Markit, explains why the vendor believes more information around the CDS market should be made available: “The CDS market is viewed as the barometer of health for the broad credit markets. It is therefore important to make information about this market as widely available as possible.”
To this end, the data portal will make a range of Markit’s independent CDS data sets publicly available, including prices for the Markit CDX and Markit iTraxx indices and the biggest daily single name CDS movers for North America, Europe and Asia, says the vendor. It will also include the last quote received by Markit before New York close of trading for approximately 450 of the most liquid CDS contracts, including G20 sovereigns, large financial corporations and constituents of Markit’s iTraxx and CDX indices.
Following the launch of the CDS clearing counterparty contender ICE US Trust this month, the portal will provide daily Markit/ICE Trust CDS settlement prices for the most liquid Markit CDX index contracts listed for clearing by the CCP.
The web portal also includes a free online calculator that converts CDS spreads into the new upfront quoting convention.
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