Markets stalled into the close yesterday after a strong start as headlines surrounding the immigration ban continued to cloud optimism around infrastructure and growth that drove the Trump rally since his election. The high-yield market was little changed on the day with the yield-to-worst/spread on the Bank of America High-Yield Index closing 1bp/2bps wider at 5.78%/+393bps.  Primary activity cooled a bit yesterday with just two deals for $1.45 billion pricing taking the week’s total to $4.275 billion. So far February’s 15 deals for $10.245 billion in proceeds is already up by 10% from last February’s total issuance. Lipper is estimating inflows in mutual and exchange traded funds of $1.1 billion WTD (reporting week runs Thursday to Wednesday) after a two-week stretch of outflows. High-yield mutual and exchange traded funds have reported a net inflow of roughly $7 billion since the US election in November. Commodity markets continued to weaken after EIA data showed a larger than expected build in US oil stockpiles as US oil production continues to come online with higher prices, while OPEC continues its effort to cut. WTI closed at $52.17, down 1.6% on the day. US markets are moving lower this morning with equities opening in the red while high-yield and oil continue to roll over in early trading. Focus remains on earnings and the four deals slated to price this afternoon.

The Bank of America Merrill Lynch US High Yield Index monitors the performance of below investment grade U.S. dollar-denominated corporate bonds publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market.  Index data sourced from Bloomberg. Yield referenced is the yield-to-worst and spread referenced is the spread-to-worst.