- Comms/Tech outperformed the €IG index WoW to yesterday’s close by 1bp/1.7bp bringing the YTD underperformance to 7.7bp/10.7bp.
- No €IG supply or rating changes though S&P did assign a BB[P] rating to Zegona.
- This week saw earnings from DXC (slight positive), Warner Bros (negative), DT (slight positive), WPP (mixed) and Infineon (slight negative).
- On spreads we saw vol in Warner Bros (below) while Verizon and AT&T both tightened against limited news flow (Verizon reported on 22 July with in-line results but weak KPIs and AT&T on 31 July with credit positive results). Corning (reported in-line on 30 July with slightly soft guidance), Worldline (credit negative results on 01 August), Telefonica (mixed results on 31 July) and Publicis (credit positive results on 18 July) all underperformed.
- The main news in the sector this week was around Warner Bros; another FT article indicated the group was no longer considering a break-up but would rather focus on asset sales. The report left the curve notably tighter and flatter before a soft earnings report after Wednesday’s close saw spreads move wider again. WTD moves for their 27s/30s/33s stand at -10bp/+15bp/+4bp as of the time of writing; https://marketnews.com/ft-sources-report-wbd-to-focus-on-asset-sales-as-opposed-to-break-up, https://marketnews.com/warner-bros-q2-results-soft-across-all-segments-credit-negative.
- Elsewhere we had WPP confirm earlier reports of a sale of their FGS stake to KKR with the proceeds to be used for deleveraging; https://marketnews.com/wpp-q2-results-look-in-line-to-slight-ahead-albeit-with-guidance-cut-fgs-sale-confirmed.
- Ericsson bonds tough recent tightest levels vs. Nokia in the wake of their Q2 results; https://marketnews.com/ericsson-28s-at-tightest-level-against-nokia-28s-since-february
- BT spreads are at YTD widest levels vs. Vodafone; https://marketnews.com/bt-spreads-underperform-through-recent-vol-at-ytd-wides-vs-vodafone-in-places.
