Berkshire Hathaway sells jumbo issue; Discovery upsizes; Duke Energy firms; spreads widen

By Aleesia Forni and Cristal Cody

New York, March 8 – Another medley of issuers tapped the investment-grade primary market on Tuesday, accessing the market during a session that saw stocks snap a five-day gaining streak and oil prices slip.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. led the session, bringing to market $9 billion of bonds in seven tranches, all priced 20 basis points to 25 bps inside initial price thoughts.

Discovery Communications LLC upsized its 10-year new issue to $500 million and attracted a book that saw more than $2 billion of orders, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia offered $2.5 billion of notes in three parts.

In total, issuers brought more than $16 billion of new high-grade paper to market on Tuesday.

Wells Fargo & Co. and Laurentian Bank of Canada tapped the Canadian bond market on Tuesday in what may be an active week for bank and financial issuance.

“The market is expecting more,” a source said. “We have earnings out of the way, and they were generally positive.”

In the secondary market, investment-grade energy bonds traded mostly better.

Duke Energy Corp.’s bonds firmed about 1 bp on the bid side in aftermarket trading.

Earlier in the day, bonds from ConocoPhillips Co. and Exxon Mobil Corp. traded 5 bps to 8 bps tighter in the secondary market.

Credit spreads widened over the day. The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade index closed 5 bps weaker at a spread of 99 bps.

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