Junk market little changed in short holiday session; Antero sees activity, Forest drop done

By Paul Deckelman and Paul A. Harris

New York, Dec. 24 – High-yield market participants headed home for the holidays on Wednesday, with little real trading seen during the abbreviated pre-holiday session.

And although the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association recommended a 2 p.m. [ET] Wednesday closing time, a trader said at mid-morning that people were “already leaving.”

With trading volume way down, even the busiest credits only racked up a couple of million dollars of activity apiece, including Antero Resources Finance Corp., Peabody Energy Corp., and, away from the volatile energy sphere, Gannett Co. Inc. and Reynolds Group Issuer LLC. Each of these was up or down no more than a fraction of a point.

In contrast to recent days, which saw brisk activity in many energy issues such as California Resources Corp. and SandRidge Energy, Inc., they were little traded. Meanwhile, crude oil prices moved lower after an unexpected jump in United States petroleum inventories was reported.

Tuesday’s fall in Forest Oil Corp. bonds came to a halt; the bonds were seen essentially untraded and unchanged on Wednesday.

Traders did not see any aftermarket activity in the new Real Alloy Holding Inc. four-year senior secured notes that priced on Tuesday – an issue believed by market sources to have been the final deal of 2014.

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