High-grade primary quiets on coronavirus fears; Fulton Financial offers notes

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., Feb. 24 – High-grade issuers stood down on Monday as fears of a coronavirus pandemic sent stocks plunging and credit spreads wider.

Some issuers held fixed income investor calls for potential deals or marketed bonds over the session, sources report.

Fulton Financial Corp. marketed $250 million of registered fixed-to-floating-rate subordinated notes due 2030 and 2035 (Baa1//DBRS: BBB) on Monday.

Otherwise, the primary market was quiet.

Strong deal volume, though, was expected this week with syndicate sources forecasting about $25 billion to $30 billion of supply.

More than $32 billion of investment-grade corporate bonds were sold last week.

Stocks sold off Monday on reports of more than 79,000 people infected in China and growing outbreaks in South Korea, Italy and Iran.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid more than 1,000 points to close off by 3.56%. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 both were down more than 3% on the day.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade 33 index widened nearly 6 bps to end at a spread of 52.65 bps on Monday.

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