
Weekly Notables
This week, the Fed announced that it would keep interest rate unchanged, while anticipating two rate cuts later this year, contingent on economic data and the net effects of fiscal policy, trade war, deregulation and geopolitical risks. With the current backdrop, the loan market traded sideways during the week. The Morningstar® LSTA® US Leveraged Loan Index (Index) returned -0.02%, for the seven-day period ended March 20. The average Index bid price dropped by 14 bp, closing out the week at 96.45.
Activity in the primary market saw an uptick compared to last week, with refinancings and M&A being the main drivers. Refinancing activity totaled $6.3 billion, while M&A volume reached $5.1 billion. Overall, total institutional weekly volume amounted to $13.2 billion. Looking at the forward calendar, net of the anticipated $13.1 billion of repayments not associated with the forward pipeline, the amount of new supply projected to enter the market was $18.9 billion, up from $8.8 billion last week.
In the secondary market, there was a notable dispersion among rating cohorts this week. Double-Bs outperformed this week, posting a positive return of 0.12%. On the other hand, Single-Bs and CCCs were in the red at -0.07% and -0.46%, respectively.
CLO managers priced 13 deals during the week, pushing the YTD volume to over $40 billion. On the other hand, retail loan funds saw another week of outflows, as $1.92 billion exited the funds. This week marks the third consecutive weekly outflow for the asset class, for an aggregate total of $4.09 billion over that timeframe. On a YTD basis, net inflow decreased to $2.21 billion from $4.13 billion in the prior week. The majority of YTD inflows in loans came from mutual funds, which accounted for $1.53 billion, or 69% of this year’s total inflows. In comparison, ETFs contributed about $687 million, making up around 31% of YTD inflows.
There were no defaults in the Index this week.
Source: Pitchbook Data, Inc./LCD, Morningstar ® LSTA ® Leveraged Loan Index. Additional footnotes and disclosures on back page. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investors cannot invest directly in the Index. *The Index’s average nominal spread calculation includes the benefit of base rate floors (where applicable).