
Weekly Notables
Following the 90-day tariff pause announcement, markets saw a modest uptick; however, the ongoing volatility and uncertainty led to a subsequent decline. With the current backdrop, loans returned -0.67% for the week ended April 10. The average bid price lost 75 bp, closing out the week at 94.77.
Primary market activity remained muted, with no new issuance amid escalating trade tensions and growing recession fears. This marks 10 consecutive days without a new deal, the longest dry period since March 2020. In the forward calendar, net of the anticipated $16 billion of repayments not associated with the forward pipeline, the amount of new supply projected to enter the market was $1.1 billion, down from $2.2 billion in the prior weekly estimate.
Trading levels in the secondary market experienced significant declines. For context, the average bid price for Double-Bs and Single-B lost 76 bp and 83 bp, respectively, while CCCs lost 141 bp. In terms of performance. Double-Bs, Single-Bs and CCCs returned -0.62%, -0.71% and -0.98%, respectively.
CLO issuance was in the high gear, as managers priced 11 deals during the week, pushing the YTD volume to roughly $54.5 billion. On the other hand, retail loan funds saw the largest weekly outflow of $4.8 billion for the week ended April 9, pushing the YTD net flows to the negative territory for the first time this year. YTD net outflows currently stands at $3.1 billion. Over the past six week, $9.4 billion exited the funds. The majority of outflows came from ETFs.
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).