Bond Sales Tumble as Ireland Crisis Spills Over: Credit Markets

Corporate bond sales worldwide are tumbling on concern Ireland’s debt crisis will spread across Europe as returns on the notes approach their worst month since credit markets froze two years ago.

Issuance has slumped 29 percent since Nov. 15, compared with the same period a year earlier, after surging 34 percent in the first half of the month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Plunging returns on debt of borrowers from Italy’s Telecom Italia SpA to Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are dragging bonds to a 1.1 percent loss in November, Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data show.