Corporate Bond Pricing Data, August 2019 Recap

US Treasury Movement

Over the month of August, the US Treasury curve tightened across every maturity. The table below summarizes weekly and monthly performance across the curve, followed by a snap of the 30 year's performance in more detail, sourced from our Price Viewer portal.

In August, the 30-year finished at 1.96%, tightening 48 basis points over the month.

At its highest, the 30-year yield started off the month closing at 2.44% on 8/1 and dropped to 1.93% at its lowest.

The 30-year yield has bounced back in early September, finishing at 2.05% as of close on 9/5/19.

Investment Grade Market Review

The table below summarizes weekly and monthly sector performance across the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF.

Top Movers (up/down) within the Investment Grade Market

Below are the five best performing IHS Markit iBoxx USD Investment Grade Index bonds:

All five of these are long end, high duration bonds which increased in price value largely due to benchmark yield tightening.

The Altria bond is an exception where issuer specific news (potential Altria and Philip Morris merger) caused the bond's credit spread to tighten by 16 bps. Below is a snap of Altria's credit spread over the last 3 months taken from our Price Viewer Portal.

The Microsoft bond made the list despite its credit bid spread widening out by 5 bps.

Below are the five worst performing IHS Markit iBoxx USD Investment Grade Index bonds:

These five bonds had a price depreciation in August despite the benchmark yield tightening. The declining bond prices are due to the widening credit spreads.

General Electric bonds widened out across their credit curve during August. The company's equity also posted a double-digit percentage loss over the same period. Below is a snap of GE's credit spread over the last 3 months.

EQT Corporation & EQM Midstream Partners are both energy firms that saw their credit spreads widen out in August.

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This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.