The U.S. leveraged finance market was in low gear this week as both the loan and high yield bond segments saw lackluster issuance during the holiday shortened period.
The bond market was especially sleepy, logging just $1.9 billion in new deals after seeing $14.3 billion of activity last week (that was the highest total since September 2013, according to LCD's Matt Fuller). For May, through yesterday, high yield issuance totals roughly $37 billion. The recent activity brings year-to-date U.S. high yield bond issuance to $150.8 billion, down from the roughly $159 billion seen at this point in 2013.
The leveraged loan market was somewhat more active, with $6.3 billion of new deals launched to institutional investors during the week. While that’s up from the paltry $3.5 billion seen last week (the lightest full-week total of 2014), it’s down from the $12-15 billion totals seen throughout much of the year.
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