The primary markets were as quiet as a mouse in the week before Christmas. In between festive celebrations, investors and borrowers were focused on holidays or what will be happening in the first quarter of 2003. The usual rush of triple-A dollar issuance should arrive in the first couple of weeks of the year, with the EIB, Rentenbank and Rabobank likely to issue first. Bankers are also betting on heavy corporate issuance in the first month, with the potential of war with Iraq likely to make the market difficult at the end of February/early March.
December 20, 2002