Morning Commentary: Sell-off continues following second equity trading halt of the week

By Abigail W. Adams

Portland, Me., March 12 – The tumult continued on Wall Street on Thursday with the second equity trading halt of the week triggered shortly after the opening bell.

When trading resumed, the flight from risk assets continued.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 7.3%, the S&P 500 was down 5.98%, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 5.53% shortly before 11 a.m. ET.

Selling pressure continued to drag down the convertibles secondary space.

While few names saw concentrated trading activity, there was about $89 million in reported volume about one hour into the session, according to a market source.

Live Nation Entertainment Inc.’s 2.5% convertible notes due 2023 were active early in the session with the notes dropping almost 7 points outright to a 90 handle.

The notes saw about $5 million in reported volume, according to a market source.

While volume was light, Live Nation’s recently priced 2% convertible notes due 2025 were also down another 7 points to 81.375 early in the session.

Live Nation stock was $39.71, a decrease of 5.47%, shortly before 11 a.m. ET.

Akamai Technologies Inc.’s 0.125% convertible notes due 2025 were down about 0.5 point outright to 110.125 early in Thursday’s session when its stock was still in positive territory, sources said.

Akamai was one of the only stocks on the S&P 500 to remain in positive territory early in Thursday’s session and traded to a high of $88.80.

However, stock was unable to hold onto their nominal gains and dropped to $86.10, a decrease of 1.06%, shortly before 11 a.m. ET.

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