Morning Commentary: Convertibles quiet with summer slowdown in full swing; Illumina inactive

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, Aug. 22 – U.S. convertibles were quiet early Monday as equity and bond markets traded mixed to a little lower and oil prices dragged as the summer slowdown period began in earnest.

“Not a peep,” a New York-based sellside trader said about convertibles trading early Monday, noting that it was the beginning of the slowest, two-week period of the year.

Even some of the more active issues of late were radio silent such as Illumina Inc.’s 0.5% convertibles due 2021, which remained untraded after leaving off a busy week on Friday at 106.7.

Some of the names in the news such as Medivation Inc. and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. were convertibles issues at one time, but those issues had matured or been otherwise called away.

At late morning, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 61.53 points, or 0.3%, at 18,491.04, the S&P 500 index was down 5.99 points, or 0.3%, at 2,177.88 and the Nasdaq Composite was off 9.99 points, or 0.2%, at 5,228.39.

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