Morning Commentary: UBS mostly flat; Occidental Petroleum eases; credit spreads open firm

By Cristal Cody

Eureka Springs, Ark., March 30 – New investment-grade bonds traded mixed in the secondary market Wednesday morning.

UBS Group Funding (Jersey) Ltd.’s 4.125% senior notes due 2026 that priced on Tuesday were flat to 1 basis point tighter.

Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s senior notes (A3/A/A) softened 3 bps.

Credit spreads opened the session stronger. The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade index tightened 1 bp to a spread of 82 bps.

Secondary trading volume rose to $18.6 billion on Tuesday from $12.26 billion of investment-grade bonds traded on Monday, according to Trace.

UBS mostly unchanged

UBS Group Funding’s 4.125% notes due 2026 traded flat to 1 bp tighter at 234 bps offered in the secondary market, a source said.

The company sold $2 billion of the 10-year notes (BBB+/A) at a spread of Treasuries plus 235 bps on Tuesday.

The firm is a subsidiary of Zurich-based financial services company UBS Group AG.

Occidental Petroleum eases

Occidental Petroleum’s 3.4% notes due 2026 eased 3 bps in secondary trading to 156 bps offered, a market source said.

The company sold $1.15 billion of the notes on Monday at a spread of Treasuries plus 155 bps.

The oil and gas, chemical and midstream company is based in Los Angeles.

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