Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Huge spreads in AA rated bonds

High quality corporate bonds acted as a safe haven when equities started to crash. With a hard economic stop being forced by government, bonds are getting hit now as well. Questions about the ability to service huge corporate debt loads and general liquidity concerns have blown out bid/ask spreads to margins not seen since 2008. Margins might even be higher in some cases. For example, the current bid for BNP Paribas 5% bonds is 92.996 (a yield to worst of 14.43%, while the ask price is 101.037 with a yield to worst of 3.69%. My guess is these are garbage bids to scoop up distressed positions due to low liquidity more than concerns that BNP Paribas will be unable to pay, but who knows. It's a sign of distress in the bond market.


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