Venezuela improves on military muscle-flexing; Fed-wary issuers to hit sooner than later

By Paul A. Harris

Portland, Ore., Sept. 2 – The sovereign and corporate debt of Venezuela saw improvement on Friday, on news that the military was moving to take the beleaguered country’s troubled energy production sector into its own hands, while at the same time cracking down on the opposition to President Nicolas Maduro.

PDVSA 5½% bonds due 2037 were a buck better on the day at 36¼ bid, a market source said.

Sovereign paper saw modest or better improvement across the maturity curve, the source added.

Supply picked up out of Asia and the Middle East this week, but Friday was quiet ahead of the extended Labor Day holiday weekend in the United States, a London-based trader said.

Trading was muted on Friday in the new Qatar National Bank SAQ paper, according to the trader.

Elsewhere, the new add-on to Slovenia’s 1½% notes due March 2035 was tighter at mid-swaps plus 94 bps bid offered on Friday.

Meanwhile sources see a big post-Labor Day pipeline that will likely bunch toward the front of that timeframe, as Friday’s non-farm payroll reports, while weak to expectations, appears to leave the door open to a move in the Fed Funds rate when the Federal Open Market Committee meets on Sept. 20 and Sept. 21.

© 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.