The risk of a prolonged gas-supply crunch could unleash a drought in Europe’s credit market that a bigger-than-expected European Central Bank hike won’t fix.
That’s the concern among participants trying to do business in a market largely on pause amid widespread volatility and seasonal earnings blackouts. Sales across the region’s primary debt market are running more than 20% behind last year, while just a handful of non-financial companies are raising new debt as funding costs climb.
