The US 2s10s yield curve flattened over 23bp last week as yields on short-term notes jumped higher on the back of forecasts of a high inflation reading, which ultimately touched a 40Y high on Friday. The 2Y Treasury yield has risen 60bp month-to-date to 3.17% vs. the 10Y, which has risen 33bp to 3.18%. US primary market issuances almost doubled last week to $32.2bn vs. $16.5bn in the week prior with Investment grade (IG) corporates issuing $28.9bn worth of deals and high yield (HY) corporates issuing $2.4bn. The largest IG deals were led by JPMorgan’s $4.5bn three-trancher and Parker Hannifin’s $3.6bn three-trancher. HY deals were led by Callon Petroleum raising $600mn followed by Univision and Mexar raising $500mn each. In North America, there were a total of 17 upgrades and 13 downgrades combined across the three major rating agencies last week. LatAm saw no deals yet again. In South America, there was 1 upgrade and no downgrades across the major rating agencies. EU Corporate G3 issuance were almost flat at $22.6bn vs. $23.6bn in the week prior – HSBC raised €2bn via a 5Y bond followed by UBS’s 2bn two-trancher. Across the European region, there were 11 upgrades and 18 downgrades across the three major rating agencies. The GCC G3 region saw no deals last week, following a single $350mn issuance by Arada Development in the week prior. Across the Middle East/Africa region, there was 1 upgrade and no downgrades across the three major rating agencies. The APAC ex-Japan G3 region saw $6.7bn in deals vs. $6.9bn in the week prior – OCBC and Bangkok Bank raised $750mn each followed by ASB Bank’s $600mn deal. Other large deals included BOC Frankfurt, Guohui, Kyobo Life and NWD raising $500mn each. In the APAC region, there were 2 upgrades and 21 downgrades combined across the three major rating agencies last week.
