Junk Fervor Cools as Oil Rout Upends Energy Debt: Credit Markets
This article is for subscribers only.
The plunge in oil prices is sapping demand in the $1.3 trillion U.S. junk-bond market, pushing yields to the highest in more than a year and leaving energy companies struggling to attract financing.
Speculative-grade companies have sold $4.52 billion of securities in the first four trading days of December, the slowest start for the month since 2011. Gas producer Atlas Energy Group and EnTrans International LLC, a maker of equipment used in fracking, have postponed loan and bond offerings as crude oil prices fell to a five-year low and yields on high-risk, high-yield bonds rose to 6.75 percent, the highest since October 2013.