Convertibles ‘for sale’ as equities fall; Stone Energy drops to 55, Fluidigm to below 50

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, Jan. 20 – Convertibles traded down Wednesday amid another hard sell-off in the crude oil and equity markets. The general tone in convertibles was “pretty sour,” and market players were marking the bonds on their books down on little to no trading, a New York-based sellsider said.

“Things are definitely better for sale today,” the sellsider said.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil for February delivery dropped more than 5% to a handle of $26.00 per barrel after dropping 4% on Tuesday. The price for this contract at the end of December was about $37.00 per barrel.

The convertibles of Stone Energy Corp. fell below 60 after trades earlier in the session above that level. The Stone Energy 1.75% convertibles due March 2017 were last 54.69 to 55, a New York-based trader said.

Shares of the Lafayette, La.-based oil exploration and production company fell 20% to $1.93.

Elsewhere, Fluidigm Corp.’s convertibles dropped more than 8 points against a 16% slide in the underlying shares of the San Francisco-based genomics and DNA research company. A small lot of the Fluidigm 2.75% convertibles due 2034 crossed at what looked like 47.5 bid, 48 offered, a trader said.

Fluidigm shares ended down $1.22, or 15%, at $6.22. They had been down by more than 30% earlier in the session. Cowen & Co. had downgraded the shares.

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