Community Health up on asset sale; California Resources drops; Neiman Marcus lower

By Colin Hanner

Chicago, Feb. 17 – The distressed debt market was quiet on Friday, traders said, as the long Presidents Day weekend set in early for some, though an asset sale for one distressed hospital corporation and the quarterly results of an oil and natural gas producer stole a majority of the action on the session.

Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems, Inc. was up marginally after the hospital operator announced it will divest eight hospitals in three states to pay down the company’s debt load.

Moving in the opposite direction were California Resources Corp.’s most popular distressed notes, which were down because of the company’s fourth-quarter results.

A market source said there were a lot of trades with those bonds, and activity was sparse for the rest of the market from there on out.

Retailer Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. was down a round number off a dozen trades, a market source said, parring the gains the company saw on Thursday’s session.

J.C. Penney Co., Inc. followed with a similar loss, a market source said.

Semiconductor test and assembly service company Global A&T Electronics Ltd. was one of the distressed market’s biggest losers on the day, a trader said. There were no apparent reasons for the movement.

Several exploration and production companies moved in both directions, albeit slightly; private coal company Murray Energy Corp. was down more than a point in its distressed issues after three sessions of upticks, and iHeartCommunications, Inc. traded tight on an otherwise low-activity session.

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