2026年7月欧洲杠杆贷款市场总结

August 6, 2026 July Wrap: European loan returns extend positive streak, but prices soften By: Taron Wade Interest income boosted the July return from the Morningstar European Leveraged Loan Index (ELLI) as secondaryprices softened, weighing on the market-value performance — though the overall reading remained positive at0.21% (excluding currency). Repricing fatigue set in over the month, and the share of loans priced above par dropped, although CLO issuance isstill supporting demand. Meanwhile, secondary prices for software loans staged a modest recovery after June’s sell-off. July market highlights: •The fourth-consecutive month of positive returns for the ELLI was boosted by interest income in July, as themarket-value return was negative 0.31%.•Secondary loan prices dropped to a 95-handle throughout July as repricing fatigue set in.•Demand for software loans rose again after a sell-off in June, but it was tougher going for names in thechemicals sector.•The ELLI shows growth in outstandings, but its expansion rate is volatile and has cooled since last year. The ELLI posted positive returns for a fourth-consecutive month in July, gaining 0.21% (excluding currency) andlifting the year-to-date 2026 return to 2.04%. However, July’s reading came in below the 12-month average return of 0.28% (excluding currency). Looking at the fuller picture, the market-value return ended the month in the red at negative 0.31% (excludingcurrency), and stood at negative 1.50% on a YTD basis. July’s market-value reading marks the sharpest drop forthis metric since March, when it reached negative 0.82%. The interest-carry component of the ELLI ended July with a return of 0.53%. Though rate cuts in Europe havelowered interest returns since the late-2023 peak of 0.71%, they remain above the 0.42% ten-year average for thismeasure. Loan pricesSecondary loan prices as tracked by the average bid price of the ELLI ended July at 95.73, and were stuck in a 95- handle throughout the month — having been above 96 for most of June. The softness in early July was attributed tomarket fatigue after June’s repricing wave, when this activity neared January's elevated levels. Indeed, the secondquarter was the third-busiest of all time for European loan repricings, according to LCD data (Q1 2025 holds the topmark on this measure). Although a strong technical backdrop continues to support the leveraged loan market in Europe, market participantstold LCD News in mid-July that signs of fatigue were setting in. Overall trading volumes felt sluggish on some days,sources noted, with new-issue volumes catching the market's attention as the primary market tallied up its third-busiest month of the year. Decliners in the index outnumbered advancers on 14 of the 23 trading days in July, at aratio of 1.55:1. Big pictureTo put these numbers into broader context, secondary loan prices in Europe have had a volatile year. AI-related software nervousness caused a broad sell-off in late February and early March, which took the weighted averagebid of the ELLI to its lowest point for the year, at 94.44 on March 9. Secondary prices climbed consistently after that point as CLO issuance surged, supporting loan prices, with theELLI's average bid moving above 96 in May. Prices stayed rangebound between 96.20-96.30 from that point, beforedipping below 96 at the very end of June, and throughout July. Historically, the ELLI is still well short of the most recent cycle-high of 98.70 hit in February 2025 — the index'shighest print since the all-time series peak of 99.02 in January 2022. Software spotlightIn July, demand for software loans rose again after a sell-off in June, with the weighted average bid for loans in this category rising to 92.45 by the end of the month, from 92.25 at the end of June. That performance narrowed the gap between software names and the rest of the index to 368 bps, after thedifferential had widened to 443 bps in June. The widest such month-end differential this year was tracked inFebruary, at 608 bps. Before AI-related concerns set in, software loans — as recently as January — had largelytraded either at a premium to or at parity with the rest of the market. The return posted by the software portion of the ELLI has improved but remains in the red, moving from an eye-catching low of negative 7.86% on March 3, to a milder 1.38% loss for the YTD by the end of July. Looking at the performance for July, software generated a return of 1.07% in the month — the second-bestperformance for sectors tracked by LCD. IT Services topped the leaderboard with a July return of 2.32% (though it isdown 2.28% in the YTD). While sentiment for software names continued to improve throughout July, the chemicals sector has lost someground. Although the YTD performance here remains solid at 5.19%, in July the sector lost 1.43%.