CREDIT MARKETS

Treasuries:
Treasury prices sustained losses as yields pushed higher for a third consecutive session Tuesday, after the government put up for sale a record amount of 3-year notes and stocks rallied, diminishing the relative investment appeal of fixed-income assets. The Treasury Department sold $34 billion in 3-year notes to yield 1.489 percent. Demand for the three year notes was weaker than at the last auction. Investors bid $2.26 for every dollar sold in the 3-year auction, compared with an average of $2.53 at the last four sales. Indirect bidders, bought 40.3 percent of the latest 3-year sale, compared with an average of 36 percent at the last four sales. Government and central bank efforts have yet to restore credit markets to where they were before freezing at the end of 2007. The U.S. sold $1.9 trillion of debt maturing in one year or less in the fourth quarter to pay for efforts to stem the collapse of the world’s biggest financial companies, which reported almost $1.2 trillion of losses and write downs since the start of 2007. Quiet on the economic news front for tomorrow.

Municipals:
The University of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania will be among today’s largest U.S. municipal borrowers, with benchmark 10-year yields at an eight-week high. Pitt, one of Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities that get public funding while keeping independent control, plans to sell $427 million of revenue bonds through Barclays Plc. The state itself will take bids from investment banks seeking to underwrite $300 million of general obligation bonds. Benchmark yields, which move inversely to prices, have risen a quarter-percentage point since mid-February to 3.52 percent on AAA general obligation bonds due in 10 years, as investors demanded higher yields on new issues. The sell-off may ease as “intermediate yields have pushed back up to levels that seem more palatable. State and local government bond prices fell last week for the third time in a row, as issuers sold $5.3 billion of fixed- rate bonds. The tax-exempt market still has positive returns this year, as buyers shun stocks in a recession and seek investments with higher yields than Treasuries. The final read on the MMD was as follows 2010-2018: yields were unchanged; 2019-2033: yields were higher by 1bp; 2034-2039: yields were higher by 2bp.

Commentary/New Issues

Corporate:
$5.0 BLN, Morgan Stanley, Aaa/AAA, 2 part $3.0 BLN, 3/12/12, +3ML+20; $2.0 BLN, 2.25%, 3/12/12, +87.4bp $2.0 BLN, Hallibuton, A2/A, 2 part $1.0 BLN, 6.15%, 9/15/19, +320bp; $1.0 BLN, 7.45%, 9/15/29, +375bp $1.0 BLN, CVS Caremark, 6.60%, 3/15/19, Baa2/BBB+, +370bp
$750 MM, US Bancorp, 2.25%, 3/13/12, Aaa/AAA, +80.75bp

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