High yield bond issuance is likely to get off to a slow start in the new year, according to investors and bankers monitoring the forward pipeline.

New issuance is expected to resume on Monday as investors and bankers get back to their desks after the holiday break. But volumes are expected to be low compared with previous years.

Last year, $31.4bn of high yield bonds from 37 issuers priced in January. So far this year, one of the most active bookrunners in the market is guiding for just four deals from its desk all month.

“We'll get a surge but it doesn't seem like one where we’ll get 7-8 deals a day,” one portfolio manager said. “It's going to be a lot more mellow than it has in previous Januarys.”