BofA Sees Record May for High-Grade Sales, Topping $190 Billion

Bank of America Corp. expects this May to be the busiest since the Covid-19 pandemic for US investment-grade corporate bond sales, as companies rush to raise capital before rising oil prices and a strong US economy can weigh on borrowing costs.

About $190 billion of high-grade bonds are expected to be sold next month, a roughly $15 billion increase from April, strategists Yuri Seliger and Sohyun Marie Lee wrote in a report on Monday. That will probably be driven by fundraising for hyperscalers, mergers and acquisitions, and data centers, BofA said, with much of it likely front-loaded in case Treasury yields rise, sending bond prices lower.