Midday Commentary: Modest slate of offerings hits high-grade primary; Shell bonds mixed

By Andrea Heisinger

New York, Dec. 3 - A slate of smaller offerings hit the high-grade bond market on Monday as fiscal cliff talks continue in Congress.

Among the issuers are Charles Schwab Corp., Plains All American Pipeline LP, People's United Financial, Inc. and El Paso Electric Co.

Trading was light in the secondary side of the market, at about $3.1 billion as of midday, a trader said.

"It's a lot lighter than last week, that's for sure," the trader added.

Plains All American had a 5.15% bond due in June of 2042 trading at 150 bps bid, 140 bps offer. This was about 45 bps tighter than the 195 bps over Treasuries level the bond sold at in March.

Meanwhile, Shell International Finance BV's two notes that were sold Thursday were seen trading.

A trader quoted the 0.625% notes due 2015 at 31 bps bid, 30 bps offered, near the Treasuries plus 30 bps price of the bonds.

The 2.25% notes due 2023 were seen trading 2 bps tighter at a bid of 73 bps. The notes sold at Treasuries plus 75 bps.

Shell, the oil and gas company based in The Hague, the Netherlands, sold each of the bonds as part of a $1.75 billion offering.

© 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.