Morning Commentary: Assurant continues investor calls; high-grade bond flows improve

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., March 16 – Friday opened with no reported issuers planning to tap the high-grade bond market during the session.

Volume has been light over the week with less than $22 billion of supply, compared to the $30 billion to $35 billion of issuance forecasted by market sources for the week.

Several issuers are in the deal pipeline, a source said.

Assurant Inc. (Baa2/BBB+) will continue holding fixed income income investor calls through noon ET on Friday for a three-tranche bond offering, one source said. The investor calls began on Thursday.

The company plans to price five- and 10-year notes and one tranche of 30-year fixed-to-floating rate subordinated notes.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Wells Fargo Securities LLC and U.S. Bancorp Investments Inc. are the bookrunners.

Funds see inflow

In other action, flows for U.S. funds and ETFs were strong for stocks and bonds for the week ended March 14, Yuri Seliger, an analyst with BofA Merrill Lynch, said in a note released on Friday.

High-grade bond flows rebounded to a $2.41 billion inflow from a flat $40 million inflow in the prior week, Seliger said, citing data from EPFR Global and BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research.

“High grade flows improved across the board,” he said.

Short-term flows improved to $950 million from $150 million and out of short-term flows rose to $1.46 billion from a $110 million outflow.

Flows for both funds improved to $2.46 billion from a $1.01 billion inflow and ETFS to a $50 million outflow from a $970 million outflow, according to the note.

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