U.S. Corporate Borrowers Have an Overseas Investor Problem
- Weaker dollar, high hedging costs are cutting into debt demand
- International investors are crucial buyers for the securities
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U.S. companies are finding that the flow from the foreign-money spigot is slowing.
Foreigners showed signs of being net sellers of U.S. investment-grade corporate debt this week, according to Bank of America data. Any selling pressure comes after international investors bought just $38 billion of U.S. investment-grade corporate debt in the fourth quarter, according to UBS Group AG, the least since the beginning of 2016, when the corporate bond market was in a freefall.