MW Fresh debt from JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley draws warm reception from investors in hopeful sign

By Steve Gelsi

As big Wall Street banks issue billions in new debt, yield spreads against U.S. Treasurys drop in a sign of strong demand

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. drew a warm reception to billions of new corporate bond issuance on Monday, as yield spreads against U.S. Treasurys fell in a sign of healthy demand.

JPMorgan Chase $(JPM)$ sold about $6 billion in bonds, Morgan Stanley $(MS)$ sold $8 billion and BNY Mellon $(BK)$ sold $2.5 billion, according to market sources.

All three issuers drew in more demand than supply, in a sign of investor optimism around banks as a haven during the going market uncertainty around tariffs, a bond-market source said.

"It was very successful and the bonds were highly sought after," said the source.

MarketWatch reached out to the the banks for comment.

As JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo & Co. $(WFC)$ and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. $(GS)$ weighed in with their first-quarter results on Friday and Monday, corporate bond yield spreads with U.S. Treasurys have been narrowing in a positive sign for the market.

Bond yield spreads against U.S. Treasurys widened briefly during the market disruption in the wake of President Donald Trump's "liberation day" tariff announcement earlier this month, but have since started to come down.

Money continued to flow into bank bonds on Monday as Goldman Sachs delivered stronger-than-expected earnings on a surge in equities-trading revenue.

Meanwhile, equity prices of all six big-bank stocks rose Monday, as Wall Street awaits earnings updates from $Bank of America Corp(BAC-N)$. $(BAC.SI)$ and Citigroup (C) on Tuesday.

At last check, JPMorgan Chase's stock was up factionally, Bank of America's stock advanced by 2.5%, Citigroup's stock rose 3.8%, Goldman Sachs rose 2.6%, Morgan Stanley rose 1.7% and Wells Fargo moved up by 1.9%.

-Steve Gelsi

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 14, 2025 14:15 ET (18:15 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.