Winter storm hampers primary market; World Bank, European Bank price; Verizon improves

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., March 14 – A winter snowstorm that hit the Northeast impacted the financial markets on Tuesday and kept most issuers at bay.

The Ford Foundation postponed its $280 million offering of 30-year bonds scheduled to price on Tuesday until later in the week.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development tapped the primary market with a $4 billion sale of three-year global notes.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development also sold $500 million of three-year floating-rate global notes on Tuesday.

With the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement set for release on Wednesday, little primary activity is expected in the upcoming session, sources report.

About $25 billion to $30 billion of bond volume was expected for the week.

Hanmi Financial Corp. announced plans on Tuesday to price an offering of 10-year fixed-to-floating-rate subordinated notes.

Also, International Finance Corp. is in the near-term deal pipeline with $500 million of three-year notes.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade index widened about 1 basis point on Tuesday to end at a spread of 66 bps.

In the secondary market, Verizon Communications Inc.’s new and existing bonds (Baa1/BBB+/A-) traded slightly better over the session.

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