The Loan Syndications and Trading Association plans to publish secondary market performance charts next month in an effort to increase the amount of market data available to its members. The information will be emailed to members and will also be available on the LSTA's Web site. "We want to increase our member benefits by providing this data," said Ted Basta, v.p. of market data at the association.
The association will publish the data, which will include the average price of secondary bids as well as the average bid-ask spread levels for both par and distressed credits, on a monthly and quarterly basis. The data will also include details regarding the percentage of loans that trade at various price levels, such as the percentage of loans that trade above par. It will be presented in the form of statistics and graphs and will not look at specific credits.
Other features include information on price volatility, including data on the percentage of loans that have had the largest price swings, as well as the ratios of loans that have advanced and declined in price. The association will also compare how first liens price in the secondary market compared to second liens. The performance charts will be available to full and associate members beginning Feb. 1.