Rentenbank sells floaters; MUFG sets call; AT&T eases; Whole Foods flat; Starbucks firms

By Aleesia Forni and Cristal Cody

New York, Feb. 11 – Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank entered Thursday’s primary market as another bout of volatility kept investment-grade bond activity to a minimum. Oil prices plummeted below $27 per barrel and stocks dropped sharply.

Meantime, more details emerged on Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc.’s investor meetings ahead of its planned two-part bond offering.

“Really not much happening,” one market source said. “We weren’t expecting anything today, and we probably won’t see anything tomorrow either.”

So far this week, the only other new deal to emerge was a $115 million issue of notes from Ford Motor Credit Co. LLC on Tuesday. The preferred market, meanwhile, saw Senior Housing Properties Trust price an upsized issue on Wednesday.

Sources had called for the possibility of around $10 billion to $15 billion of investment-grade issuance this week.

Investment-grade bonds were mixed in secondary trading, and credit spreads widened over the day.

AT&T Inc.’s 4.125% notes due 2026 eased 5 bps on Thursday to 223 bps bid in secondary trading, a market source said.

The company sold $1.75 billion of the notes (Baa1/BBB+/A-) on Jan. 29 at Treasuries plus 220 bps.

Whole Foods Market Inc.’s 5.2% senior notes due 2025 were unchanged at 350 bps bid a day after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings.

Starbucks Corp.’s 2.1% senior notes due 2021 firmed 1 bp to 73 bps bid in the secondary market.

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