Issuers to look at high-grade market Thursday, Friday; 'Skeleton staffs' limit activity

By Aleesia Forni and Andrea Heisinger

New York, Oct. 31 - The high-grade bond market reopened on Wednesday following Hurricane Sandy, but there were no reported deals to be had.

It's possible an offering or two could pop up on Thursday or Friday as more staff is able to get to work, but some potential issuers would wait until Monday, a market source said.

"I think a lot of people are focused on other things," she said.

Many syndicate desks on the East Coast are also thinly staffed due to lack of electricity, flooding and transportation issues.

A syndicate source offered a more positive outlook late on Wednesday.

"If we see most accounts are in receipts on Thursday, we'll move forward," he said. "It wasn't that bad today. Should be a couple of deals tomorrow and Friday. People want to get ahead of the elections."

The Markit CDX Series 18 North American Investment Grade index widened 1 basis point from earlier in the session to a spread of 99 bps on Wednesday.

Desks ran on "skeleton staffs, as damage, connectivity issues and lack of mass transit" limited market participants during the day's trading, one trader commented.

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