Ford prices; volatile market backdrop keeps others at bay; credit spreads widen; Comcast firms

By Aleesia Forni and Cristal Cody

New York, Feb. 8 – High-grade primary activity was measured to open the week on Monday, with issuers keeping to the sidelines in light of a volatile market backdrop as credit spreads widened, oil prices slid below $30.00 per barrel and stocks tumbled.

U.S. crude oil declined 3.9% on Monday to $29.69 per barrel.

In primary happenings, Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC entered the market, pricing $115.02 million of notes on Monday in three parts.

Despite a significant deal calendar in the investment-grade space, sources are calling for only around $10 billion to $15 billion of new issuance to price this week.

This follows last week’s $17 billion total that fell below earlier expectations.

Credit spreads opened the day 4 basis points weaker and softened another basis point over the session. The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade index closed 5 bps wider at a spread of 120 bps.

Investment-grade bonds were mixed in secondary trading.

Ford Motor Credit’s existing 4.134% notes due 2025 softened 1 bp on the day to 249 bps bid.

Comcast Corp.’s 4.6% notes due 2045 tightened 4 bps to 175 bps bid in secondary, according to a market source.

Charter Communications Inc.’s 6.484% bonds due 2045 were quoted trading 1 bp softer at 371 bps bid.

Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Co.’s bonds (Baa2/BBB/A-) widened about 15 bps on Monday.

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