Conservative investors, plentiful new issuance and the summer doldrums combined to slow par trading activity to a crawl last week. The only signs of life came early last week when small pieces of Nextel Communications and Adelphia Communications' Century Cable paper traded in the Street, traders noted.
Some $20 million in Nextel paper, primarily in $2.5 million chunks, is said to have changed hands last week. Trades were reported across all three tranches of Nextel's bank debt, but the highlight of the week was a $2.5 million piece of B/C paper that was said to have traded between dealers at the 83 1/2 level. The B/C paper had been bid as low as 80 1/2 earlier in the week. Traders said there was no real news driving the movement, which was pretty much tracking Nextel's bonds. The B/C paper had an average bid-ask spread of 80-82 last week, while the A/D paper was quoted at 78-80.
Meanwhile, Adelphia's Century Cable paper ticked up on positive news for the cable sector in general. The paper held a wide bid-ask spread of 65-70 two weeks ago, but it tightened to 69-71 early last week on solid earnings reported by Cox Communications. Traders said they believe the Century Cable paper has pretty much bottomed out and dealers may look to make some relative-value plays. Indeed, a roughly $1 million piece was rumored to have moved between dealers at 69. The bid-ask spread ended the week at 70-72.