Wall Street, ny
February 2009

CREDIT MARKETS

Treasuries:
Treasury prices posted slight gains Monday, erasing earlier losses, as stocks compounded their losses while investors fretted about how the government will support financial institutions. Treasuries rose for a second day as concern that deepening recession will erode company earnings drove investors toward the safest of assets. Thirty year bonds gained before Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernake tomorrow starts two days of congressional testimony on the economy. The U.S. is set to sell $94 billion of two, five and seven year notes this week. The difference between yields on the two and ten year notes narrowed to 1.83 percentage points, from 1.97 percentage points two weeks ago.  The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 3.5 percent to its lowest close since April 1997.  The six day losing streak in the U.S. stock benchmark ranks as its longest since October. For all the $9.7 trillion pledged by the U.S. to combat the financial crisis, money markets show the world’s biggest banks see no recovery before 2010.

Municipals:
New York City leads state and local governments planning to sell about $3.8 billion of fixed-rate bonds as borrowing slows from last week’s pace amid higher benchmark yields. New York, the largest borrower among U.S. cities, will offer $400 million of tax-exempt and $120 million of taxable bonds in a sale managed by Citigroup Inc. The University of Pittsburgh and CPS Energy in San Antonio each also intend to borrow more than $400 million this week.  Municipal bonds declined last week by the most since January amid concerns the $787 billion economic stimulus package wouldn’t aid state and local governments as much as expected, also, “crossover” investors who bought debt when it was cheaper unwound trades. The market has a bit of indigestion combined with renewed credit concerns.  Yields on top-rated 30-year general obligation bonds last week rose six basis points, or 0.06 percentage point, to 5.18 percent, the highest since Feb. 3.  With last week’s declines, tax-exempt bonds have returned 1.1 percent for the month and 5.2 percent in 2009, including reinvested interest compared to Treasuries have lost 2.7 percent and corporate bonds gained 0.4 percent. The final read on the MMD was as follows 2010-2015 yields were higher by 2-3bpts; 2016-2019 yields were higher by 3-5 bpts; 2020-2039 yields were higher by 2-3 bpts.
Click on chart to view larger:

2-24-09

Commentary/New Issues

Corporate:
$2.775 BLN, Hewlett-Packard, A/A, 3 part $275 MM, 2/24/11, +3ML+175bp; $1.0 BLN, 4.25%, 2/24/12, +295bp; $1.5 BLN, 4.75%, 6/02/14, +295bp $800 MM, Waste Management, Baa3/BBB, 2 part $350 MM, 6.375%, 3/11/15, +462.5bp; $450 MM, 7.375%, 3/11/19, +462.5bp $500 MM, Arizona Public Service, 8.75%, 3/1/19, Baa2/BBB-, +595bp

ABS:
Nothing

Agency:
Nothing

New Issues larger than $250mm. The fixed income offerings mentioned above are for informational purposes only. Toussaint Capital Partners, LLC, member NASD/SIPC, and/or its affiliates may be a participant in the offering mentioned and therefore offerings will be subject to availability.
All statistical data is sourced from Bloomberg Financial Markets