On the Blotter: Primary is back, but the underlying tone is more selective in May

May felt like a stronger month on the surface…

Primary issuance reopened in size and repricing activity accelerated. But beneath that headline strength, the tone in the secondary was more nuanced. Clients remained active, dealer engagement stayed high, and execution held up consistently on the platform. At the same time, flows often skewed toward selling, and leadership rotated away from the most obvious up-in-quality trade, a trend we had seen in previous months.

Repricing and refinancing calendar showed active in May

Loan market activity accelerated in May, driven by refinancings, repricing’s and amend‑and‑extend transactions. Deals from names such as APi Group, Asplundh and Talen Energy¹ underline lenders’ willingness to fund scale and quality at consistent pricing.

Beyond simple refinancing, issuers continued to take advantage of the window to reduce borrowing costs, including Genmab, CoreWeave and more.²

Alongside repricing’s, May also saw a steady pipeline of new money and event-driven financings, including debut and coordinated loan-and-bond executions from names such as Venetian, PODS, Yahoo!, BASF Coatings, and TPG RE Finance Trust²

Primary strength, secondary nuance

What stood out most this month was the divergence between primary momentum and the tone in the secondary.

The latest weekly data reinforced that nuance. Our broad tracker ended the week of May 22^nd week up 11c at $96.76, after reaching a Monday high of $96.89, while the Highly Liquid tracker finished down 7c over the same period.

That divergence suggests the market remains constructive on the surface, but leadership is no longer concentrated in the most liquid names in the way it had been earlier in the year.

Client activity remained elevated, but the flow picture improved into the last week of May. We closed the month with a more even 50/50 buy-sell split, a notable change from the prior monthly trend in which clients leaned strong sellers a number of times throughout the month.

• 76% sellers (May 1)
• 87% sellers (May 6)
• ~68% sellers week-to-date (May 8, May 22)

The turn to a more balanced split last week is notable not because it reverses the month outright, but because it suggests positioning may be becoming less one-way.

The “up-in-quality” trade became less one-way

For much of 2026, the cleaner trade had been up in quality and up in liquidity. In May, that relationship became more balanced:

• OLS 4 +21c vs HL -1c (May 15)
• OLS 4–6 leading (May 19)
• Highly Liquid -3c WoW (May 18)

And MOM as of May 28 lower liquid names led the way:

• Medium Liquidity (OLS 4-6): +$0.57
• Liquid Names (OLS 8-10): +$0.19
• Highly Liquid (10+): $+.084

The average bid price and percentage bid above par in our Medium Liquid bucket of loans (OLS 4-7) saw a steady increase through May, and towards the end of the month even surpassed our Liquid bucket of names (OLS 8-10) to have a higher percentage bid above par. It’s evident clients became more tactical this month, and more willing to engage beyond the most liquid part of the market.

ICYMI:
Read the latest from our Head of Markets, Howard Cohen, on his lookback of the last two decades in credit, and what is accelerating electronic adoption in the loan market. 

1. https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:35cc228f-eabc-43d4-9032-27013e33cb65 “Broadly Syndicated Loans”
2. https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:80b32519-7002-400b-874a-57b3ab417ef0 “Broadly Syndicated Loans” Paragraph 3
3. CoreWeave – CoreWeave Closes $3.1 Billion Loan Facility, Expanding Access to Public Markets for GPU-Backed FinancingAs market enters post SaaS-pocalypse thaw, leveraged loan repricing window opens (for some borrowers) – PitchBook
    
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