Coca-Cola, Export Development tap market; Microsoft firms; McDonald’s, AT&T notes widen

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., Oct. 22 – The Coca-Cola Co. and Export Development Canada were among investment-grade issuers that tapped the market on Thursday, bringing the week’s supply to about $19.5 billion.

Coca-Cola sold $4 billion of senior fixed-rate notes due 2017, 2020 and 2025 (Aa3/AA/A+) during the session.

Export Development Canada brought a $1 billion U.S. dollar-denominated offering of three-year bonds.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. also planned to price a two-part offering of fixed- and floating-rate notes.

Market tone was “pretty good” over the day for new issues, a syndicate source said.

High-grade issuers are expected to take a break on Friday, according to a market source.

In the secondary market, investment-grade bonds were mixed, while credit spreads headed out tighter.

Microsoft Corp.’s bonds (Aaa/AAA/) tightened modestly in secondary trading before the company’s aftermarket release of fiscal first-quarter results.

McDonald’s Corp.’s senior notes (A3/A-/BBB+) widened 4 bps to 8 bps in secondary trading after the company reported strong third-quarter profit. The company’s stock hit an all-time high at 111.00 on Thursday and closed up 8.33, or 8.12%, at 110.87.

AT&T Inc.’s bonds (/BBB+/A-) headed out 4 bps weaker ahead of the company’s third-quarter earnings release after the bell closed.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade 25 index firmed 2 bps on Thursday to close at a spread of 80 bps.

© 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.