Energy names firm despite oil price retreat; steel issues gain as feds slam Chinese competitors

By Paul Deckelman

New York, May 26 – Traders in the distressed-debt market said Thursday that bonds of oil and natural gas companies, which have lately been on a roll, continued to post gains.

Among the day’s winners were such familiar names as Chesapeake Energy Corp. and California Resources Corp., energy and mining concern Freeport-McMoRan Inc. and Basic Energy Services Inc.

Those gains came despite a slight downturn in world crude oil prices on oversupply concerns, after several straight sessions during which benchmark grades of crude oil had firmed handsomely.

Industry watchers said that the bonds strengthened as the crude prices approached the psychologically potent $50 per barrel mark, after months of having traded well below that price point.

Away from the energy realm, traders meanwhile noted strength in steel industry credits such as AK Steel Holding Corp. and United States Steel Corp. The steelers’ bonds and shares got a boost on the news that U.S. trade authorities had slapped heavy duties on imports of corrosion-resistant steel coming in from China.

Additionally, the federal trade body said it would open an investigation in to U.S. Steel’s separate claim that Chinese competitors had stolen its trade secrets.

In the convertibles market, Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s paper was hammered down on the news that GlaxoSmithKline, the co-developer of one of its main medications, has decided not to initiate a Phase 3 study with the developer of gene-based drugs.

© 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.