Royal Bank of Canada, Verizon, Smithfield tap primary; International Business Machines better

By Cristal Cody

Eureka Springs, Ark., Jan. 25 – Investment-grade issuers including Royal Bank of Canada, SunTrust Banks, Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Smithfield Foods, Inc. priced new bonds on Wednesday as equities rallied and the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 20,000 for the first time in its history.

RBC priced $1.75 billion of five-year fixed- and floating-rate notes.

SunTrust Banks brought a $1.3 billion two-part offering of notes.

Verizon Communications tapped the primary market with a $1,475,000,000 offering of notes.

Also, Smithfield Foods priced $1.4 billion of split-rated senior notes (Ba2/BBB-/BBB) in three tranches.

In other issuance, Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten NV priced $1.75 billion of five-year notes on Wednesday.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development sold $1 billion of four-year global notes.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade index tightened about 1 basis point to close the day at a spread of 64 bps.

In the secondary market, International Business Machines Corp.’s senior notes (Aa3/AA-/A+) priced on Tuesday traded better over the session.

International Business Machines’ 2.5% notes due 2022 rose over the day to head out better at 99.98 after trading early in the day 99.87, according to a market source.

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