U.S. Corporate-Bond Sales Pass $1 Trillion in Record Pace
- Global ‘influx of capital’ is going to corporate bonds
- Investors are looking to ‘get a little bit of yield’
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Blue-chip companies have just sold more than $1 trillion of bonds for the fifth year in a row -- and they got there quicker than ever.
Issuance has boomed as companies from Apple Inc. to Exxon Mobil Corp. rushed to take advantage of borrowing costs near record lows. And investors have flocked to the debt to escape $11.7 trillion of bonds elsewhere that are trading at negative yields thanks to unprecedented stimulus from central bankers outside the U.S. Investment-grade bond sales exceeded $1 trillion on Wednesday after companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc issued more than $20 billion of bonds. At this pace, issuance may soar past the record $1.32 trillion of bonds sold in all of 2015.