Ballooning swap spreads in the dollar markets and continued weakness in the euro weighed heavily on bond markets this week. US dollar swaps spreads widened sharply on Wednesday and yesterday (Thursday) in response to declining equity markets and nervousness ahead of today's (Friday) non-farm payroll data. But before the volatility set in, US financials Household, Heller and Associates Corp were able collectively to raise $3.9bn of global debt. Household's five year deal was doubled to $2bn and was still twice oversubscribed at the enlarged size. But the borrower had to pay considerably more than its usual targets to achieve successful execution. Some 20% of the deal was distributed internationally.
May 05, 2000