(Bloomberg) — JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. sold $13.25 billion of new debt in the US high-grade bond market, the first in a likely parade of deals from Wall Street’s six biggest banks following their release of first-quarter results.
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JPMorgan priced $9 billion of bonds in four parts, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The longest portion of the offering, an 11-year fixed-to-floating rate security callable in 10 years, yields 1.15 percentage points above Treasuries, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the details are private. Initial price talk was about 1.4 percentage points.
Wells Fargo sold $4.25 billion of notes in two tranches, a separate person said. The fixed-to-floating-rate portion of the offering, a four-year security callable in three years, yields 0.95 percentage point above Treasuries, the person added, after initial talk of about 1.2 percentage points.
The two banks are the first of potentially many in the sector to issue debt this month. Financial sector analysts, including at JPMorgan and UBS Group AG, are predicting anywhere between $20 billion and $33 billion from the six biggest banks, extending what’s already a record pace of issuance in the US investment-grade primary market.
Read More: Banks Set for Bond Issuance Spree After Reporting Earnings
JPMorgan and Wells Fargo released first-quarter results on Friday, as did Citigroup Inc. Reporting on Monday was Goldman Sachs Group Inc., while Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley are due on Tuesday.
Regional and Yankee banks are also expected to sell debt this cycle, padding sales numbers that dealers say could reach $100 billion this month for the investment-grade market.
The top lenders issued around $38 billion in the first-quarter to comply with the central bank’s plan to boost their capital, Bloomberg Intelligence senior bank analyst Arnold Kakuda wrote in a note last week.
The primary US investment-grade corporate bond market logged its busiest first-quarter on record, supercharged by investors clamoring for high yields before the Federal Reserve starts cutting interest rates. Meanwhile, issuers are looking to take advantage of the tightest risk premiums since 2021 and avoid any potential volatility the next few months may bring — including from the US presidential election.
Monday’s third deal in the US investment grade market was from Eversource Energy, which sold $1.4 billion of bonds. Overall issuance of $14.65 billion is nearly half of this week’s projected amount. Financial institutions will likely be the main sellers as many corporates are in their respective earnings blackout periods.
(Updates with deals priced.)
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