Board-Ansicht
Mix-Ansicht- Haufen Holz - XERXES, 15.02.2002, 07:47
Haufen Holz
By David Brinkerhoff
NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - U.S. corporate bonds slightly underperformed Treasuries in volatile trading on Thursday as accounting and credit concerns continued to nip away at the corporate debt market.
BANKS
Bank spreads erased morning gains and ended unchanged following a news report that J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s exposure to Tyco International Ltd. <TYC.N> could total up to $1 billion. In addition, a top strategist with the Wall Street firm is quitting his post. The move comes as troubles mount for the No. 2 U.S. Bank holding company.
Yield margins on J.P. Morgan's 6.75 percent notes maturing in 2011 finished about 1.56 percentage points more than Treasuries, roughly flat from Wednesday, after coming in as tight as 1.47 percentage points, traders said
A trader said Bank of America Corp.'s <BAC.N> 7.4 percent notes maturing in 2011, carrying roughly comparable ratings, yielded 1.22 percentage points more than Treasuries, slightly wider than 1.20 percentage points heard earlier. On Wednesday, Citigroup Inc. <C.N> sold new 10-year notes yielding 1.09 percentage points more than Treasuries, and late Thursday they traded tighter at 1.07 percentage point.
QWEST
Telecom news rattled the debt market as Qwest Communications Inc. <Q.N> drew down $1 billion, or a quarter of its $4 billion back-up credit line, after failing to win buyers for short-term debt.
The company's 7.9 percent note due in 2010 gapped out 1 percentage point to 5.00 percentage points more than Treasuries, traders and analysts said.
Rating agency Standard & Poor's cut Qwest's credit ratings, citing the lack of buyers for the company's short-term debt and saying the voice and data services company had limited financial flexibility and near-term liquidity concerns.
Fitch Ratings also cut its ratings on Quest.
In other ratings news, Standard & Poor's cut retailer Gap Inc.'s credit to junk status, or"BB-plus," from"BBB-plus," citing disappointing earnings and sales in a"poor" retailer environment.
High-yield prices weakened by about a point, but there was no clear sector trend, traders said.
((U.S. Financial Markets Desk, 646-223-6033, david.brinkerhoff@reuters.com))
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