Midday Commentary: Quiet start to day's trading; Ball, Clear Channel, HCA relatively busy

By Paul Deckelman

New York, Aug. 21 - The high-yield secondary market was, in the words of one trader, "ridiculously quiet" on Wednesday morning - an assessment echoed by several market participants at other shops.

"Everybody is waiting for the Fed comments," the first trader said, referring to the scheduled 2 p.m. ET release of the minutes from the latest meeting of the central bank's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, which market denizens will carefully scrutinize for clues as to when the Fed will begin the long-feared "tapering off" of its expansive QE3 quantitative easing monetary policy.

The tapering off is expected to ultimately push interest rates higher, and expectations of such a development have been causing prices to soften and spreads to widen since Fed chairman Ben Bernanke first raised the possibility in mid-May.

In the meantime, the trader said, "the bid side is lower by at least ¼ point."

Among the relatively more active credits in the early going, packaging maker Ball Corp.'s 4% notes due 2023 were down about a half point at 88¾ bid on volume of more than $7 million.

Broadcasting and billboard giant Clear Channel Communications Inc.'s 10¾% notes due 2016 were off ¼ point at 86¼ bid on volume of more than $5 million.

Hospital operator HCA Inc.'s 4¾% notes due 2023 were up 1/8 point at 92 5/8 bid on volume of more than $3 million.

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