Murray Energy fall continues; Fresh Market, other grocers down; battered land-line names better

By Paul Deckelman

New York, Aug. 24 – The distressed-debt market was largely quiet on Thursday, in line with a generally lackluster overall high-yield bond market.

However, among the names which were seen trading around, Murray Energy Corp.’s bonds – which plunged around 7 points in heavy trading on Wednesday on the news that a federal emergency declaration the beleaguered coal producer was seeking on behalf of one of its major customers might not be forthcoming – continued to retreat on Thursday but on considerably reduced volume.

Supermarket operators – notably Fresh Market, Inc., but also including sector peers such as Albertsons Cos. LLC and SuperValu Inc. – were all seen lower – as retailing giant Amazon.com announced that it plans to cut prices on a wide range of products at Fresh Market rival Whole Foods Market Inc. once it completes its acquisition of the upscale grocery store chain, raising the specter of a destructive price war in what it is already a difficult low-margin business.

PetSmart, Inc.’s bonds, which have recently been under pressure on news that the specialty retailer’s chief executive officer will be leaving the company, were mixed on the session in active trading.

On the upside, traders saw strength in some recently challenged names in the telecommunications sector such as landline operators Frontier Communications Corp. and Windstream Holdings, Inc., although they did not see any fresh news that might explain those gyrations.

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