Canada sold $4 billion of bonds in its largest transaction in the US currency on record as inversion in the Treasury yield curve continues to largely deepen.
(Bloomberg) — Canada sold $4 billion of bonds in its largest transaction in the US currency on record as inversion in the Treasury yield curve continues to largely deepen.
Debt arrangers for the top-rated country priced the five-year notes at a spread of 11 basis points over US Treasuries, compared to preliminary price discussions Tuesday of around 14 basis points, according to people familiar with the matter. It marks Canada’s biggest federal government transaction in dollars — up from $3.5 billion previously in 2022 — Bloomberg-compiled data show.
The inversion in the Treasury yield curve has steepened for much of the past five weeks as economic data implies another interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve, which next meets on May 3. The extra yield of two-year over the five-year is at around 52 basis points, the widest inversion in more than a month.
“Rates in the belly of the curve have declined recently, offering issuers a more attractive all-in yield than the front-end due to the curve inversion,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, a New York-based senior US rates strategist at TD Securities. “Highly rated issuers are using the relative stability in the Treasury market to raise funds after a very quiet March.”
Earlier this month, the francophone province of Quebec priced a similar maturity bond at a spread of 34.6 basis points, while Ontario Teachers’ Finance Trust sold a $1.5 billion deal Tuesday at 58.6 basis points.
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The Ottawa-based government is committed to maintaining liquid foreign reserves at or above 3% of its nominal gross domestic product, according to a statement on Canada’s Department of Finance website Tuesday.
A press officer for Canada’s Department of Finance didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
–With assistance from Daniel Covello.
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