Morning Commentary: Convertible debt trades lower on Belgium bombings; Chesapeake retreats

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Seattle, March 22 – Trading in the convertible bond market was picking up a bit in early Tuesday trading.

However, the space was trending downward, in line with the broader markets. The weakness came as Belgium dealt with a string of bombings in Brussels.

The bombings – two of which occurred at the airport and another at a subway station, both during morning rush hour – were attributed to the recent arrest of Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in the massive attacks on Paris last year. However, no one has taken credit for the bombings.

As the markets came in, so were oil prices. The flight to safer havens such as gold was also due in part to Libya stating that it would not participate in an upcoming OPEC meeting to discuss production freezes.

In response, Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s 2.5% convertible notes due 2037 were trading off 2 to 3 points, according to a market source.

The notes were pegged in a 75 to 76 context.

The 2.25% convertible notes due 2038 were meantime about unchanged, trading around 45.375.

The Oklahoma City-based oil and gas producer’s equity (NYSE: CHK) was down 9 cents, or 1.84%, at $4.77.

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