Volume stays low in pre-holiday calm; Valeant down; iHeart mixed; one-off names trade

By Colin Hanner

Chicago, Dec. 20 – Volume and movement were sluggish in the distressed arena on Tuesday, continuing a three-day trend of similar behavior as equity markets soared to new highs.

The pre-holiday lull has seemingly gone into effect as volume remains low across the distressed market, a trader said.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. continued to move from Monday’s session on a “fair amount of volume” given the current volume trading, a trader said. Movement was down, and there were no evident factors driving movement.

A trader said the 6 1/8% notes due 2025 were down ½ point on a “fair amount” of volume to 73½, ¼ point off of where it was down on Monday’s session.

Movement was mixed for iHeartMedia, Inc. as a decision from the International Swaps & Derivatives Association continues to hang over the media company.

In the energy and production sector, oil prices were marginally firmer and lifted oil and oil-related names like Denbury Resources Corp. and Stone Energy Corp., which saw an uptick in its notes.

Yet, oil drillers may have been feeling the effects of news that President Obama permanently banned offshore oil and gas drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic, even if drillers do not have operations there.

Swedish driller Transocean Ltd. was one of the day’s biggest decliners in distressed-land.

Several one-off and not often traded securities traded in all directions and rounded out activity in the distressed space, a trader said.

© 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.