WEEKLY UPDATE
The was a slight lull in the pace of primary market activity last week as $8.5 billion of investment grade deals and $2 billion of high yield deals came to market. This is slightly down on the previous week and below the $11.8 billion that has been the average weekly volume of investment grade issuance since the beginning of the year. We have largely attributed the greater than expected volumes of corporate debt market issuance to pre-funding given the possibility of market disruption in response to war with Iraq. Now that military conflict has actually begun, we should see volumes drop through April. Even if issuers do not get "frozen out" as they did last summer, the chance to pre-fund is over and the primary market should slip back to a pace more reflective of the likely level of annual borrowing in 2003.
Analysis by CreditSights, Inc., an independent online credit research platform. Call (212) 340-3888 or visit www.CreditSights.com for more information.
