CREDIT MARKETS

Treasuries:
Treasuries rose after minutes of an April 28-29 policy meeting showed some Federal Reserve officials judge that the central bank may need to boost asset purchases to secure a stronger economic recovery. The Fed’s Open Market Committee minutes also said it expected unemployment in 2009 to climb more than its previous forecast in January and the economy to slow more. The central bank has already agreed to buy $1.25 trillion of agency mortgage-based securities and up to $200 billion in agency debt by the end of the year, and up to $300 billion of Treasury securities by autumn. Earlier in the session, in the Fed’s latest foray into the bond market, the New York branch of the Fed bought $7.699 billion in debt maturing from 2016 to 2019, about the same amount it purchased at its last pass through this maturing range. Treasuries this week have also been pushed around by a burst of corporate bond sales. The difference between two and ten year Treasuries touched 2.39 percentage points today, the steepest since November 18th. Economic news tomorrow will focus on initial jobless claims, leading indicators and Philadelphia Fed.

Commentary/New Issues

Corporate:
$400 MM, Nordstrom, 6.75%, 6/1/14, BBB+, +475bp
$250 MM, Berkshire Hathaway Finance, 4.00%, 4/15/12, AA2/AAA, +158bp

ABS:
Nothing

Agency:
Nothing

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 New Issues larger than $250mm.