Morning Commentary: Convertibles riding out summer in quiet trade; Herbalife bounces back

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, Aug. 29 – U.S. convertibles continued to trade quietly on Monday as traders look forward to September, which begins on Thursday, and then the unofficial end of summer, which occurs the following week with the U.S. Labor Day holiday, a market source said.

Among names in trade was Herbalife Ltd., which looked poised for a bounce back from last week. The Herbalife 2% convertible due 2019 traded at 100.5 in the yearly going, which was 2.5 points higher than the previous level.

The convertibles dropped a point last week amid speculation about Carl Icahn’s stance on the company and that he considered selling his 18% stake in the company.

The common shares of Herbalife were also higher on Monday, trading last at $61.91, which was up $1.36, or 2.3%, on the day and higher than where they were before the Friday pullback.

After the market close on Friday, Icahn – one of the nutritional supplement company’s biggest defenders – issued a statement in which he denied he had attempted to sell his stake in Herbalife. He instead announced he had purchased 2.3 million more shares of the company.

Amid the Friday scuttlebutt were reports that Icahn was considering selling his stake in Herbalife to Bill Ackman, a short seller who deems the company a pyramid scheme, but Icahn also denied that he had approached Ackman.

© 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.