US corporate bond spreads were unchanged to a touch tighter on Friday after a record US trade deficit in June confirmed hopes that the Federal Reserve can take its time in raising interest rates.
The trade deficit hit $55.8 billion in June on the biggest drop in exports in nearly three years and record imports.
Both investment-grade and high-yield corporate bonds have been taking downbeat economic news in stride because it assures investors that interest rates will not rise too quickly. That has helped both markets hold their value even as major stock indexes hit 2004 closing lows this week.
"There can be things that impact earnings expectations and still not have an impact on cash flow, which is going to really determine whether a corporate issuer can service its debt," said Michael Taylor, high-yield strategist for Bear Stearns. "That might help explain why, in addition to demand for yield, these markets are doing fairly well."
High-yield bonds were little changed on Friday and mostly flat for the week.
In the investment-grade market, yield spreads between corporate bonds and Treasuries were unchanged to 0.01 percentage point tighter. Spreads have moved in a 0.04 percentage point trading range for 14 weeks, according to Merrill Lynch.
In the primary market, new bond sales slowed to a crawl, with just a handful of small issues priced on Friday as the market headed for its traditional late-August lull. About $10 billion of corporate bonds were priced this week, most of them on Wednesday. In the credit derivatives market, spreads held mostly steady on "insignificant volumes," a trader said.
The cost of insuring a basket of investment-grade bonds, as measured by the Dow Jones Series 2, was unchanged at a bid of 64.75 basis points. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. The benign outlook for interest rates drove benchmark Treasury 10-year notes up by 17/32, pushing their yields down to 4.21 percent.
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