The US investment-grade primary expects at least six offerings to price today, joining a list of 19 IG issues that already priced in this busy week.
Crescent Energy is the only offering expected to price in the HY primary today.
A busy menu of economic data releases is scheduled for Wednesday, including the ADP Employment report and the ISM Services PMI and factory orders.
Markets outside the US were rocked yesterday, with political turmoil in South Korea and France dominating the headlines. But closer to home, economic data dominated.
"Away from all the political developments, markets were fairly steady overall, with investors looking forward to the US jobs report on Friday as the next catalyst," Deutsche Bank Research said today in a report.
"Nevertheless, there was a clear intra-day selloff for US Treasuries, after the latest JOLTS report showed a tighter labour market than expected ... So that added to investors’ confidence that the labour market was holding up."
In the IG primary yesterday, eight offerings were priced totaling US$9.4bn, lifting weekly IG supply to US$16.85bn, according to IFR data. The average new issue concession on yesterday's offerings was negative 0.11bp and the average order book was 4.56x subscribed, according to the data. The average progression from initial price thoughts to pricing was 30.92bp tighter.
In the HY primary, two issues were priced totaling US$1.4bn, pushing weekly HY issuance to US$2bn.
The average IG bond spread narrowed by 1bp to 80bp on Tuesday and the HY bond spread tightened by 2bp to 266bp, according to ICE BofA data. US yields across asset classes edged higher on Tuesday.
HIGH GRADE
The US investment-grade bond market is expected to draw at least six deals on Wednesday.
Banco Santander Mexico is in the market for a five-year senior unsecured note. Mexican tortilla maker Gruma is issuing 10 and 30-year senior unsecured notes, its first sale of US dollar bonds in a decade.
Defense company Lockheed Martin is marketing a two-part senior unsecured bond that includes a seven-year and a tap of its 5.2% 2055 notes.
KKR-owned insurer Global Atlantic is selling a seven-year funding agreement-backed note via its financing entity, GA Global Funding Trust.
Fashion company Tapestry is issuing five and 10-year senior bonds. The debt transaction will term out loans that backed US$2bn of share repurchases.
Pennsylvania-based regional bank FNB announced a six-year non-call five senior unsecured note in a fixed-to-floating rate format.
LEVERAGE/HIGH YIELD
The primary market for US high-yield bonds continues to see borrowers raise funding in what is the last window of the year.
Crescent Energy is topping up its 7.625% 2032 with a US$300m add-on today as it looks to fund its acquisition of assets in the Eagle Ford shale fields from Ridgemar Energy.
Those bonds were changing hands yesterday afternoon at a dollar price of 101.045 to yield 7.335%, according to MarketAxess data.
Yesterday saw Iron Mountain and US Acute Care Solutions raise a combined US$1.4bn.
Iron Mountain’s US$1.2bn eight-year non-call three offering priced at par to yield 6.25% and inched higher on the break to trade at 100.25 on Tuesday afternoon, according to MarketAxess data.
STRUCTURED FINANCE
The CMBS sector has provided most of this week's action in the structured finance primary.
Yesterday Freddie Mac raised more than US$1.7bn via two multifamily mortgage securitizations.
A lender group led by Barclays yesterday released price guidance on a US$786.3m five-year conduit offering that is slated to price this week. The US$347.0m Triple A rated tranche is assessed at US Treasuries plus 89bp area.
Meanwhile, another lender group led by BMO is in the market this week with an US$892m five-year conduit deal.
As for the ABS sector, Porsche released price guidance on its US$750m prime auto loan issue this morning. The US$268.3m Triple A rated class, which carries a 2.4-year weighted average life, is assessed at US Treasuries plus 43bp-45bp.
LATAM
Three Latin American senior unsecured bond offerings are expected to price today.
Argentina's Vista Energy is out with an 11-year bond, with initial price thoughts in the low 8% area. Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Itau and JP Morgan are the bookrunners.
Mexican tortilla maker Gruma has announced a two-part offering. Initial price thoughts are in the 155bp area over US Treasuries for the 10-year, and in the 180bp area for the 30-year.
BBVA, Bank of America, JP Morgan and Scotiabank are joint bookrunners.
Finally, Banco Santander Mexico has announced a five-year, with initial price thoughts in the 190bp area over US Treasuries. Santander, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and HSBC are the bookrunners.
EQUITIES
US ECM syndicate desks have already launched or priced more than US$9bn of ECM offerings this week, more than half of which has come from the robust convertible bond market.
Another four CBs priced late Tuesday, led by financial software firm Bill Holdings’ upsized US$1.25bn zero-coupon security.
Capitalizing on a 50%-plus rebound in Bill’s stock price in November and following a day of marketing, a syndicate led by JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley priced Bill's 5.25-year security at a 0% coupon and 35% conversion premium, through the tight end of the 0%-0.5% and 27.5%-32.5% price talk.
Bill is using the proceeds to buy back portions of previously issued zero-coupon bonds maturing next year and in 2027.
Live Nation Entertainment secured US$1bn from a CB sale to help clean up its balance sheet.
After a day of marketing, Citigroup, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley priced the five-year security at a 2.875% coupon and a 40% premium versus the price talk of 2.875%–3.375% and 37.5%–42.5%.
Keeping the recent run of crypto-related CB offerings going, bitcoin miner IREN (formerly Iris Energy) raised US$400m from an upsized CB priced at a 3.25% coupon and 30% conversion premium.
The evening’s fourth CB was auto-focused fabless chipmaker Indie Semiconductor’s US$190m offering, which priced at a 3.5% coupon and 27.5% conversion premium after a day of marketing.
As for straight stock sales, New York’s Consolidated Edison surprised investors by raising US$679m of block equity, structuring the all-primary offering as a forward sale, which allows the utility to lock in current prices and progressively issue the shares and collect the proceeds through the end of next year.
Acting as sole bookrunner, JP Morgan priced the sale of 7m borrowed ConEd shares at US$97.00, the bottom of the US$97-$97.53 range and a slim 0.5% discount to last sale.
ConEd tapped investors despite telling them less than a month ago that it had no plans to raise equity this year beyond its dividend reinvestment plans and its employee share plans.
Also late Tuesday, Revolution Medicines raised US$750m from an upsized stock sale to help fund Phase III trials on two promising cancer drugs, and E&P Crescent Energy raised US$301m of equity to help fund a US$905m bolt-on acquisition in the Eagle Ford shale basin.
Former SPAC and space exploration company Intuitive Machines also raised US$110m to bolster its cash pile.