Frenzied primary following FOMC decision; Apple improves; Cisco flat

By Aleesia Forni and Cristal Cody

New York, March 17 – Issuers piled into the investment-grade bond market on Thursday following the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold rates steady earlier this week.

With Treasuries and credit spreads rallying early during the session, Apple Inc., Entergy Louisiana LLC, American International Group Inc. and Loews Corp. were among the names taking advantage of a stronger market tone to price $10.27 billion of new issuance.

The pick-up in activity follows Wednesday’s decision from the Federal Reserve to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.25% to 0.5%.

Apple sold all three add-on tranches of its $3.5 billion new issue between 10 basis points to 15 bps tight of talk.

And Loews upsized its 10-year bonds to $500 million, while AIG issued $1.5 billion of notes around 15 bps inside initial price thoughts.

Financial names including Bank of Nova Scotia and Lloyds Banking Group plc also accessed Thursday’s primary.

The slew of new deals coming to market at the tail end of the week pushes its total supply to $25.47 billion.

Apple’s reopened tranche of 3.25% senior notes due 2026 firmed 2 bps in secondary trading.

Cisco Systems, Inc.’s 2.95% senior notes due 2026 were flat on the day.

International Business Machines Corp.’s 3.45% senior notes due 2026 softened 1 bps on Thursday.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade index firmed 3 bps to close at a spread of 83 bps.

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