Morning Commentary: Convertibles secondary drifts lower; Live Nation under pressure

By Abigail W. Adams

Portland, Me., Sept. 22 – It was a red day in the convertibles secondary space as equity markets extended their slide and Treasury yields catapulted to new heights.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 64 points, or 0.24%, the S&P 500 index was down 0.7%, the Nasdaq Composite index was down 1.3% and the Russell 2000 index was down 1.95%.

Small cap and tech stocks were again taking the brunt of the sell-off as rising interest rates and recession red flags called into question future earnings growth and the ability to refinance debts.

While most names on the tape were lower, volume remained light with few names seeing concentrated trading activity.

There was $61 million in reported volume about one hour into the session with Live Nation Entertainment Inc.’s convertible notes active.

Liberty Media Corp.’s 0.5% notes due 2050 exchangeable for Live Nation’s common stock fell 4 points outright and Live Nation’s 2% convertible notes due 2025 were down 3 points outright with stock off 4% early in the session.

The 0.5% exchangeables were changing hands at 106.75 versus a stock price of $79.55 early in the session, according to a market source.

The 2% convertible notes were changing hands at 105 versus an equity price of $79.51.

There was $4 million and $2 million in reported volume, respectively.

Live Nation’s stock was trading at $78.22, a decrease of 4.08%, shortly before 11 a.m. ET.

© 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.