The Investment Industry Association of Canada has announced:
Widening credit spreads and unsettled markets, coupled with rising inflation and falling real yields, created difficult borrowing conditions in the latest quarter. For the first three months this year, total debt issuance declined 18% quarter-over-quarter. The fall was broad-based, with a notable pullback in provincial and municipal financings. Although issuance fell short of last year’s Q1 level, encouragingly, debt trading activity remained steady with $1.7 billion worth of bonds exchanging hands in the quarter. The Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC) today released its periodical An Issue of Debt: Inside Canada’s Debt Markets that includes analysis and results for the first quarter of 2008.
I don’t think much of the articles, but the statistics fall into the “Impressive-sounding statistics to Quote” category.