In London, the Markit iTraxx Europe Index of 125 companies with investment-grade ratings increased 1 basis point to 98.1.
The indexes typically rise as investor confidence deteriorates and fall as it improves. Credit swaps pay the buyer face value if a borrower fails to meet its obligations, less the value of the defaulted debt. A basis point equals $1,000 annually on a contract protecting $10 million of debt.
Bonds of Verizon Communications Inc. are the most actively traded dollar-denominated corporate securities by dealers today, accounting for 4.5 percent of the volume of dealer trades of $1 million or more, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The New York-based telephone carrier raised $49 billion on Sept. 11 in the largest corporate bond issue ever.
Dallas-based Neiman Marcus plans to sell $960 million of eight-year senior notes and $600 million of payment-in-kind toggle notes due in 2021, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Payment-in-kind borrowings allow the issuer to pay interest with additional debt.
Moody’s Investors Service assigned a Caa2 rating to Neiman Marcus’s planned notes and downgraded the company’s corporate family rating to B3 from B2, citing increased debt from financing the deal, the credit grader said today in a statement.