Irish Crisis Causes Retreat From Dollar Bonds: Credit Markets

European companies’ sales of U.S. dollar bonds fell to the lowest in almost a decade on concern the region’s budget deficit crisis will spiral out of control as Ireland comes closer to following Greece in getting a bailout.

Borrowers in Europe have raised $1.4 billion this month selling debt in the U.S., only 2.7 percent of all investment- grade issuance, the smallest share since February 2001 and down from $9.3 billion, or 32 percent, in the same period of October, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Until this month, U.S. bond sales by companies in Europe made up an average of 29 percent of issuance in 2010, the data show.