Due to its large size and market chatter, Ford Motor's credit facility continues to trade actively. Loan-only credit default swaps continued to inch tighter, while its cash loans rose. "A ton of the loan trades; it's one of our most active names," a dealer said.
Its $7 billion term loan "B," was up last week trading around 101.075-101.400 from around 100.516-100.797, the week before, according to Markit. Its five-year, CDS was trading around 496 last Wednesday, tighter by about 16 basis points from the day before, according to Markit.
The LCDS was trading around 185-195 last week, according to a dealer. It traded to the 200-210 range in early January (CIN, 1/8). The LCDS had been trading around 232-237 following its break (12/18). A Ford spokeswoman declined comment.
One trader said some in the market attribute the tightening of the LCDS to the general tightening of loans and CDS. However, specific to Ford may be the fact Lear Corp. sold its North American interior business to WL Ross & Co. and Franklin Mutual Advisers, or news reports that Visteon Corp. may be working on a deal with Valeo. "Maybe people think, 'If Visteon improves, Ford improves because [Ford] doesn't have to support them that much,'" a trader said. According to Markit, five-year CDS on Visteon tightened 72 basis points in the last week to trade around 442.