High-grade issuers stand down on Fed announcement; spreads widen in secondary; Agilent weakens

By Aleesia Forni and Andrea Heisinger

New York, June 19 - High-grade issuers sat out Wednesday's session as the market awaited an announcement at the conclusion of the two-day Federal Reserve Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

Those who needed to tap the market did so Monday and Tuesday before the tone could be affected by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's comments.

By late morning, it was clear that no issuers were willing to tap the market.

"Nothing here, and not hearing of anything," one syndicate source said. "Everyone's waiting."

By mid-afternoon, an announcement was made that the Fed will keep quantitative easing measures in place, such as bond buying and holding interest rates near zero, with signals that the measures may be downgraded if the economy shows further signs of improvement.

Bernanke said in comments that the Fed will reduce the stimulus later in 2013 if unemployment continues to decline.

After the close, a source said, "We kind of brushed it off. Could be some [trades] tomorrow."

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade index was 6 basis points wider at a spread of 88 bps on Wednesday.

In secondary action, the recent deal from Agilent Technologies, Inc. traded wider on the day, a trader said.

The company's $600 million of 3.875% 10-year senior notes were quoted 3 bps wider at 181 bps bid, 177 bps offered.

The notes were sold at a spread of Treasuries plus 175 bps on Tuesday.

The bioanalytic and electronic measurement technology company is based in Santa Clara, Calif.

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