Morning Commentary: High-grade primary market quiet; Libor yield rises; BNP Paribas notes stable

By Cristal Cody

Eureka Springs, Ark., Jan. 12 – The markets opened on Thursday with equities weaker, Treasury yields lower and investment-grade bonds mixed.

No reported issuers were in the high-grade bond primary market over the morning following about $19 billion of volume on Wednesday that included a $13.55 billion four-part offering of senior notes from Broadcom Ltd. subsidiaries Broadcom Corp. and Broadcom Cayman Finance Ltd.

The three-month Libor yield rose 1 basis point to 1.02% on Thursday, according to a market source.

In the secondary market, BNP Paribas’ 3.8% senior non-preferred medium-term notes due Jan. 10, 2024 that priced on Jan. 3 were mostly unchanged from where the notes traded in the previous week.

High-grade secondary trading has been strong over the last two market sessions. On Wednesday, $20.86 billion of investment-grade issues were traded, compared to $20.2 billion on Tuesday and $16.6 billion on Monday, according to Trace.

BNP Paribas steady

BNP Paribas’ 3.8% notes due 2024 were seen trading at 147 bps offered, according to a market source.

BNP Paribas sold $1.75 billion of the notes (Baa2/A-) on Jan. 3 at a spread of 160 bps over Treasuries.

The banking and financial services company is based in Paris.

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