Primary lull continues; September pick-up eyed; Tesla again volume leader; grocers groan

By Paul Deckelman and Paul A. Harris

New York, Aug. 30 – The high-yield primary market continued its summer vacation on Wednesday – the eighth straight session in which syndicate sources saw neither any new deals being announced and shopped around, or actually pricing.

But those sources said that this is likely to change once the upcoming Labor Day extended holiday weekend break in the United States is over and issuers come back to the market.

However, estimates of just how much new paper might price were all over the map.

For yet another session, the recently priced Tesla, Inc. eight-year bonds remain perched high atop the Junkbondland Most Actives list, although little or no price movement was actually seen in the electric car manufacturer’s issue.

Away from Tesla, bonds of supermarket companies like Fresh Market, Inc., Ingles Markets, Inc. and Albertsons Cos. LLC continued to trade fairly actively for a generally quiet session, with most of that paper again being pushed lower on investor fears that the newly completed merger between sector peer Whole Foods Market and retailing giant Amazon.com – and the latter company’s initiative to slash prices at its new unit could force the others in the industry to do likewise, meaning lower revenues and earnings.

Energy issues were seen as a mixed bag, even as Hurricane Harvey continued to wreak havoc along the U.S. Gulf Coast region, doubling back on its earlier path and pushing into Louisiana.

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