Bond Market News

US primary markets saw an decrease in issuances to $18.3bn vs. $21.7bn in the prior week. IG issuances dropped to $10.9bn vs. $15.2bn in the prior week while HY issuances rose to $7bn vs. $5.3bn in the prior week. The largest deals in IG space were led by big banks Morgan Stanley raising $5bn via a two-part deal and BofA raising $3.25bn. In the HY space, Vertiv Corp raised $1.7bn via a dual-trancher and Weatherford International raised $1.6bn. In North America, there were a total of  46 upgrades and 28 downgrades combined across the three major rating agencies last week. LatAm saw $3.5bn in issuances vs. $551mn in the week prior with Braskem Idesa and the Columbia sovereign raising $1.2bn and $1bn respectively. In South America, there were 2 upgrades and 12 downgrades each combined across the major rating agencies. EU Corporate G3 issuances saw a small decline to $25.2bn vs. $27.2bn in the week prior led by KfW’s $6bn dual trancher, and Iliad Holding’s multi-currency ~$4.2bn four-part deal. Across the European region, there were 30 upgrades and 5 downgrades across the three major rating agencies. The GCC G3 saw no issuances in issuances last week as compared to $4.1bn in the week before. Across the Middle East/Africa region, there were no upgrades and 3 downgrades across the three major rating agencies. APAC ex-Japan G3 issuances saw a slight decrease to $6.bn vs. $6.4bn in the week before with EXIM Bank of Korea’s multi-currency $2bn deal followed by Dongfeng Motor’s €750mn issuance and Wesfarmers’ €600mn deal. In the Asia ex-Japan region, there were 3 upgrades and 13 downgrades combined across the three major rating agencies last week.