By Richard A. Bravo
NEW YORK, July 22 (Reuters) - Investment-grade corporate bond yield spreads ended the day a touch wider on Tuesday under pressure from several bid lists circulated during the afternoon session, traders said.
The bid lists, which were up to $600 million in size, were sent out by investors seeking to sell large groups of bonds. One list, which was around $250 million in size, was weighted heavily with finance bonds.
"The bid lists are big enough that it isn't a cash flow issue but a statement about the market," said Andy Palmer, portfolio manager at ASB Capital Management.
Spreads -- the yield gap between corporate bonds and Treasuries -- had tightened by 3 to 5 basis points overall during the morning session, taking a cue from early strength in the equities market, before succumbing to selling pressure.
A basis point is 1/100 of a percentage point.
Bonds of Ford Motor Credit Co., the financing unit of Ford Motor Co. (F.N), were recently quoted at 2.69 percentage points over the comparable Treasuries securities, in around 10 basis points from Monday's session, according to data supplied by MarketAxess.
Activity was unusually busy for a summer session, traders said.
In the primary market, U.S. financial group American Express Co. sold $1 billion of 10-year notes through sole book manager Lehman Brothers Inc. The issue was priced to yield 4.913 percent, or with a yield margin of 0.70 percentage points over comparable Treasury securities.
When the issue freed to trade in the secondary market, investors bid up the price of the bonds, tightening in the spread by around two basis points.
In late trading, benchmark 10-year treasuries were up 12/32, yielding 4.162 percent, as the highest yields in seven months drew buying interest after several days of losses.
To see upcoming and recent corporate bond sales, click on [nNEUBD4].