Coming week to see bump in high-grade deals; Nokia trades off lows, Coors, GE Capital firm

By Andrea Heisinger and Cristal Cody

New York, April 27 - There were no bond deals priced in the high-grade market on Friday as U.S. economic growth data was released.

The gross domestic product report showed growth slowed in the first quarter.

"I don't think anyone would have priced anyway," a market source said. "People had already crossed today off their list."

The predictions of a single-digit week of issuance came true. According to Prospect News data, there was $7.19 billion of new paper in 8 deals.

A majority of this came from two large deals from General Electric Capital Corp. and Molson Coors Brewing Co.

The coming week is expected to be more active as companies continue to emerge from earnings blackout.

"We're hearing $15 to $20 billion," a syndicate source said.

There's a slight backlog pent up after a mostly slow month of April.

"We just haven't seen a ton of issues in the last couple of weeks," a market source said. "It's earnings and other factors."

Despite a rocky past week with little in the way of new deals, there weren't many companies that simply decided to hold off.

"I don't know if we had many that couldn't go," the market source said. "Everyone just had timing in mind. I don't think they were carried over."

The broad market traded tighter on Friday. The Markit CDX Series 18 North American investment-grade index firmed 2 basis points to a spread of 94 bps.

Nokia Corp.'s bonds fell early on Friday after a ratings downgrade from Standard & Poor's, but the company's paper ended the session off its lows.

The telecom sector traded 2 bps to 5 bps better on the day.

Molson Coors Brewing's senior notes (Baa2/BBB-/BBB) sold the previous day stayed 10 bps to 12 bps tighter in secondary trading.

Bank and financial paper traded 5 bps to 10 bps better on Friday.

Zions Bancorporation's reopened notes due 2017 edged up in trading.

General Electric Capital's notes priced on Tuesday ended the week 5 bps better.

Treasuries traded mostly unchanged on the weaker GDP figure. The 10-year note yield fell 1 bp to 1.93%. The 30-year bond yield was flat at 3.12%.

Nokia hangs in

The S&P downgrade "created a little bit of activity" in Nokia's bonds on Friday, a trader said.

Nokia's 5.375% notes due 2019 traded as low as 82.5, 4 points lower, early Friday.

"They're going out the door at 86, 87, so they bounced off the lows pretty good," the trader said.

Nokia sold $1 billion of the notes on April 30, 2009 at 99.075.

Standard & Poor's said on Friday that it dropped Nokia's long-term credit rating to BB+ from BBB- and its short-term credit rating to B from A-3.

On Tuesday, Fitch dropped Nokia's long-term issuer default and senior unsecured ratings to BB+ from BBB-.

Moody's downgraded the company to Baa3 from Baa2 on April 16.

The mobile phone manufacturer and internet services provider is based in Espoo, Finland.

Molson Coors stronger

Molson Coors Brewing's 3.5% notes due 2022 traded 10 bps tighter than their pricing levels at 150 bps bid, 147 bps offered on Friday, a trader said.

The company sold $500 million of the 10-year paper at 160 bps over Treasuries on Thursday.

The tranche of 5% bonds due 2042 traded better at 178 bps bid, 175 bps offered. Molson Coors sold $1.1 billion of the 30-year bonds at Treasuries plus 190 bps.

Molson Coors is a beer brewer based in both Denver and Montreal.

Zions Bank

Zions Bancorporation's 4.5% senior notes due 2017 edged up to 100.25 bid, 101 offered on Friday, a trader said.

Zions sold $100 million of the notes (/BBB-/BBB-) at 100.249 in a reopening on Thursday.

The financial services holding company is based in Salt Lake City.

GE firms

General Electric Capital's 2.3% notes due 2017 traded on Friday at 145 bps bid, 140 bps offered, a trader said.

The five-year notes (A1/AA+/) priced in a $2 billion offering at Treasuries plus 150 bps on Tuesday.

The financial products and services provider is based in Norwalk, Conn.

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