Junk bond market’s August ends on quiet note; energy gains continue as oil rally rolls on

By Paul Deckelman and Paul A. Harris

New York, Aug. 31 – The high-yield market finished out the month of August on a quiet note Monday when, as expected, no new deals were priced.

With Junkbondland’s last pricing having been KIK Custom Products Inc.’s $390 million of 9% notes due 2023, which came to market all the way back on Aug. 19, the month concluded with $13.39 billion of new dollar-denominated, fully junk-rated paper having been priced by domestic or industrialized-county issuers in 24 tranches.

That was well up from both July’s issuance total of $7.93 billion in 15 tranches – the smallest of any month so far this year – and from the $3.18 billion that came to market in 12 tranches in August 2014, according to data compiled by Prospect News. March remains this year’s busiest month, with $39.66 billion pricing in 56 tranches.

Traders said that the overall market tone was firm, though quiet, and is expected to get even quieter approaching this weekend’s Labor Day holiday in the United States.

They said that the energy sphere in particular was better bid for, helped by a third straight session of rallying crude oil prices.

Statistical measures of market performance were mixed for a second straight session on Monday; they had turned mixed on Friday after having been higher across the board on Thursday. The indicators have now been mixed in three sessions out of the last four.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.