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On Monday, President Trump criticized the Fed for even considering raising rates, yet on Wednesday the Federal Open Market Committee announced its decision to raise the Fed Funds rate ¼ of a percent from 2.25% to 2.5% -- the fourth such increase in 2018.

Back in 2015, Marty Fridson, Chief Investment Officer at Lehmann, Livian, Fridson Advisors LLC, spoke with Barron's on the topic of high yield industries most sensitive to rising interest rates.

Inescapable: We’re going to assume the ups and downs of the major indices – and the corresponding movement in BDC common stock prices – will continue until it doesn’t. Since late August, the turmoil across all asset classes has caused the playbook of BDC fundamentals to be thrown out the window as new low after new low is reached, with a few head fakes along the way. As we write this the Dow Jones index is trading 200 points down in the Monday pre-market, which only means that more of the same is on the cards.  Admittedly, this past week, the BDC sector fared less poorly than the 3 major indices (Dow Jones, NASDAQ and S&P 500), but that could reverse itself this week, whether the broader markets go up or down. All we are sure of is that the BDC sector cannot disentangle itself from whatever direction the markets are headed. Here is the chart showing the price of the UBS Exchange Traded Note with the ticker BDCS – which includes most every BDC player – since August 30, 2018, roughly when the market dramas began, compared to the main indices.

LBOs to take out Elo Touch, Latham Pool debt held by BDVC, FSIC, GARS

Arrangers pressed forward with some of the final new-issue loans of 2018 last week, but it’s an open question as to how much enthusiasm remains among buysiders that have been buffeted by volatility in recent weeks. The recent downdraft has repriced the primary market, and issuers are seeking to address the issue with yield—and not just on dicier transactions.Meanwhile, high-yield’s heartbeat barely registered with a single $350 million print and a murky outlook on further deal flow as the loan market continued to dominate the waning supply in the final weeks of 2018.