WEEKLY UPDATE
Supply continues to be heavy in what we mostly attribute to frontloading ahead of any possible market disruption in the event of hostilities with Iraq. Investment-grade issuance for February was $39 billion and there was almost $12 billion of high-yield deals done. This means that in the first two months of the year we have seen $123 billion of corporate supply across the rating spectrum, which is ahead of the pace seen last year ($109 billion) and only slightly behind that of 2001 ($130 billion) when the market was hit by a deluge of supply in the wake of the unexpected rate cut on January 3. And the deals have kept up the pace in the first week of March with a further $10 billion coming to market in the latest week.
Analysis by CreditSights, Inc., an independent online credit research platform. Call (212) 340-3888 or visit www.CreditSights.com for more information.