Corporate bond Issuance slows into February, reducing trading desk pressure – The DESK
The corporate bond market has slowed its flow of newly issued debt into the market, while fund inflows made the case for strong investors appetite.
The booming new issuance calendar has tapered off in February, according to Morgan Stanley data. Investment grade primary market activity in the US drove a new US$28 billion of supply, which the bank noted was the slowest week so far this year although at US$362 billion, year to date is still up by 11% on the same period in 2025.
Investment Grade issuance in Europe also slowed, with €13 billion in bonds pushed out into the market, the region’s slowest week so far this year and making a net €150 billion so far, which is up 3% on this period last year.
In high yield, US markets saw a new $4 billion issued last week, making a total of $50 billion in 2026, (up 28% YoY) and no new issuance in European high yield, although year to date supply is up 54% on last year at €21 billion.
While the slow down in newly issued bonds might reduce activity which can be a proxy for liquidity, our secondary market analysis indicates that bid-ask spreads and secondary trade sizes have been unaffected by the fall in trading volumes and trade count.
Given the pressure that managing new issues creates for buy-side trading desks, the continued level of liquidity quality seen in the market indicates that buy-side desks will be net beneficiaries from this slowdown, with fewer deals to manage and more time to handle complex transactions.
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