Morning Commentary: Convertibles secondary space active; Booking Holdings in focus

By Abigail W. Adams

Portland, Me., Sept. 29 – The convertibles primary market was again dormant on Tuesday with only two days left to the third quarter.

With the first presidential debate scheduled for Tuesday evening, potential issuers may be waiting to see the direction the market takes in response.

“It does feel like there’s some holding off,” a source said.

Meanwhile, the secondary space was active early in Tuesday’s session despite a lack of new paper entering the space.

There was $97 million in reported volume about one hour into the session with Booking Holdings Inc.’s convertible notes accounting for more than 20% of the volume on the tape.

End-of-month activity was most likely the driving force of the trading activity, a source said.

Booking Holdings’ 0.9% convertible notes due 2021 were changing hands around 106.5 early in the session with about $11 million in reported volume.

The 0.75% convertible notes due 2025 were changing hands around 128.25 with about $10 million in reported volume.

The online travel aggregator’s stock was changing hands at $1,679.11, a decrease of 1.25%, shortly before 11 a.m. ET.

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