The final week of July continued the dismal issuance totals with the primary market remaining effectively closed for all but sporadic deals. Only $2.3 billion of investment- grade deals came to market during the week and the $16.2 billion total issuance in both investment-grade and high-yield for July is the lowest monthly issuance on record in the last seven years. The low issuance volumes and other evidence of the degree to which the extension of risk capital has shut down is causing widespread concern that we are entering a credit crunch and August's issuance volumes will be closely watched for evidence that the current frozen conditions are beginning to thaw.
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