BofA, Monsanto, L-Bank close volatile week; JPMorgan widens; Valspar better; bonds mixed

By Aleesia Forni and Cristal Cody

Virginia Beach, Jan. 16 – Bank of America Corp., Monsanto Co. and Landeskreditbank Baden-Wurttemberg-Forderbank (L-Bank) priced new deals on Friday, closing out a volatile week for high-grade bonds.

Bank of America priced $2.5 billion of subordinated notes, while L-Bank came to market with a $1 billion offering of notes due 2017, and Monsanto issued $365 million of 30-year bonds.

Friday’s uncharacteristically active session brings the week’s total supply to $32.95 billion, surpassing what was predicted to be a $30 billion week.

Meanwhile, Lipper reported inflows of $1.491 billion into corporate investment-grade bond funds for the week ended Jan. 14, down from last week’s inflows of $2.972 billion and bringing the year-to-date total inflows to $4.463 billion.

Investment-grade credit spreads improved, while corporate bonds were mixed on Friday ahead of the long holiday weekend, market sources said.

Bank of America’s new 4% notes due 2025 were not active in the secondary market, a trader said.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s paper (A3/A/A+) stayed weak following the company’s $6.15 billion two-tranche offering on Thursday, according to market sources.

Valspar Corp.’s senior notes (Baa2/BBB/) brought on Thursday tightened in secondary trading, according to a trader.

Bonds were mixed over the session, with bank paper slightly weaker in sympathy with the widening in JPMorgan’s paper, sources said.

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