Hear that creak? It’s the sound of a logjam shifting. S&P LCD puts the forward calendar of leveraged loans back under $100bn for the first time in over a year. Chart thanks to the team at Bank of America.

So the banks’ efforts to shift their haul is working. But as the banks compete to entice private equity buyers, they are locking in lower prices and allowing potential buyers to pick and choose what they’re prepared to take on, inevitably getting stuck with the worst of the assets. More writedowns to come then.
Related links
Citi allows loan “cherry picking” - FT.com
Deutsche speeds sale of leveraged loans - FT.com
Given the leverage and options that the investment banks had in this situation, this was one of the areas of risk that I worried about least for the investment banks.
Perhaps we are actually turning the corner.
As MS CEO recently said, “we’in the top of 9th inning.”
http://www.linkedin.com/in/bhavinpkapadia - Bhavin P. Kapadia