The average daily notional volume (ADNV) for US corporate bonds hit a new high of US$54 billion in September 2024, a 46% increase compared to September 2023.
The increase in volume was driven by the Federal Reserve’s rate cut and a surge in new issuance of investment-grade (IG) and high-yield (HY) bonds, with US$186 billion of new IG bonds and US$38 billion of HY hitting the market, the total of which was the highest since February.
“The Fed rate cut and new issuance activity both played a huge part in the secondary market volume jump, with borrowers now more excited about declining interest rates,” Coalition Greenwich noted in October Data Spotlight report.
Electronic trading played a significant role, the report suggests, with 50% of IG volume traded electronically in September. The combined IG and HY market saw US$26.6 billion traded electronically per day, representing a 61% increase year-over-year.
Amid the bonanza, trading platforms Bloomberg, MarketAxess, Tradeweb, and Trumid all set records for electronic volume. MarketAxess approached US$10 billion in daily electronic trading volume, followed by Tradeweb with nearly US$9 billion and Trumid with more than US$3.4 billion.
©Markets Media Europe 2024
