Government finance desks were off to the races this morning as four new provincial debt offerings hit the tape, a rare sight for this market.
The issues included: a $600-million offering from Ontario, a $500-million deal for Financement-Quebec, a $400-million two-tranche deal for New Brunswick and a $300-million offering for Saskatchewan. Each had solid demand and investors had strong appetites across the yield curve.
Driving this demand was a better tone in credit markets of late, as investors become more comfortable with risk once again. A decent amount of provincial debt also came due this month, totalling $5.1-billion, the second highest amount coming due this year. And there's also chatter that RRSP season could be contributing, as money flows into fixed-income mutual funds, which then buy these provincial bonds.
CIBC World Markets was the big winner on Thursday, leading Ontario and Saskatchewan's offerings. National Bank Financial led FinQ's deal, while TD was behind New Brunswick's offering.
Tim Kiladze