Weekly Notables
The loan market maintained a strong momentum throughout the week, despite the recent slightly elevated CPI print. For the seven-day period ended November 14, the Morningstar® LSTA® US Leveraged Loan Index (Index) returned 0.21%, pushing the YTD return to 7.89%. The average Index bid price gained 12 bp, finishing the week at 97.07.
There was a noticeable uptick in the primary market activity following election results. A handful of opportunistic deals launched this week. In the forward calendar, net of the anticipated $14.1 billion of repayments not associated with the forward pipeline, the amount of repayments now outstrip new supply by about $2.4 billion, versus $2.9 last week.
There was a notable dispersion in performance among rating cohorts this week. Double-Bs and Single-Bs posted positive returns of 0.26% and 0.23%, respectively. On the other hand, CCCs have remained in the negative territory for four consecutive weeks, with a return of -0.18%.
On the demand side, there were 6 new CLOs that priced during the week, brining the YTD issuance volume to roughly $174.7 billion. According to Morningstar, loan retail funds recorded the largest weekly inflow in 2024 of $1.52 billion for the week ended November 13. This marks the eighth straight weekly inflow for the asset class, for an aggregate total of $2.57 billion over that timeframe. YTD net inflow is currently at $5.65 billion.
There was one default (Correct Care Solutions LLC/ Wellpath) in the Index during the 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).