Morning Commentary: Convertibles lower again with month-end in focus; Isis Pharmaceuticals lower

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, June 30 – Market players were trimming their holdings of U.S. convertibles early Tuesday on the last day of the month and of the quarter. The moves follow broad-based weakness on Monday when the universe was characterized to have come in about 0.5 point on swap.

“Things are OK; we didn’t bring anything ‘in’ drastically further,” a New York-based sellsider said regarding Tuesday’s action.

Names in trade were random and name specific, the sellsider said. The tone was one of essentially “limping to the end to put June away.” There was not a lot of trading.

Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s convertibles were lower with shares of the Carlsbad, Calif.-based gene-based drug developer up more than 1%.

Isis’ 1% convertibles due 2021 traded at 107.6, which was down 3.5 points, according to Trace data, with shares around $56.00.

Acorda Therapeutics Inc.’s 1.75% convertibles due 2021 were around 101. Those convertibles had traded at 104 around midweek last week. Shares of the Ardsley, N.Y.-based biopharmaceutical company, which develops therapies for neurological disorders, were up 19 cents, or 0.6%, at $33.62 last.

On Monday equities were sharply lower on worries regarding the worsening Greek debt crisis. Negotiations with Greece’s creditors had broken down and the government called a July 5 national referendum to decide whether to accept or reject conditions for a bailout.

On Tuesday shares began to snap back.

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