CREDIT MARKETS

Treasuries:
Longer-dated Treasury prices traded lower Wednesday, pushing up their yields, as analysts weighed comments from Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke and the direction of U.S. stock markets. On Tuesday, Bernanke stressed the need for fiscal responsibility as he said the Fed isn’t close to changing its ultra-low interest-rate policy. In testimony on Wednesday before a panel of senators, he said any discussion of enacting a second stimulus package to prop up the economy is premature. First, mortgage applications rose a seasonally adjusted 2.8 percent last week from the prior week, marking the third straight weekly increase. And second, U.S. home prices rose 0.9 percent in May, the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported. Still, it said home prices have dropped 5.6 percent in the last year. The government plans to auction 20-year TIPS and 2, 5, and 7 year securities on four consecutive days starting on July 27. The sales are the second time the government will sell three so called coupon issues and a TIPS maturity in a single week since the Treasury started issuing securities regularly in 1976. Economic news for tomorrow will focus on initial jobless claims and existing home sales.

Commentary/New Issues

Corporate:
$1.0 BLN, BB&T, 3.85%, 7/27/12, A1/A, +237.5bp
$650 MM, GECC, 2.00%, 9/28/12, AAA/AAA, +56.5bp
$250 MM, H.J. Heinz Finance, 7.125%, 8/1/39, Baa2/BBB, +270bp

ABS:
Nothing

Agency:
$4.0 BLN, FHLB, 1.75%, 8/22/12, +35bp

New Issues larger than $250mm. The fixed income offerings mentioned above are for informational purposes only. Toussaint Capital Partners, LLC, member FINRA/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.