US Debt Market Raised $22.5B This Week, The Highest Since 2007: FT

Companies in the United States raised $22.5 billion in the bond market this week, the Financial Times reported on Friday, based on EPFR Global data.

What Happened

This is the highest amount injected in bond mutual and exchange-traded funds in the U.S. in a week since 2007, according to the Financial Times.

Investment grade corporate bond funds accounted for $5.5 billion of the amount raised by companies in the week, funds buying investment grade corporate bond funds and government debt accounted for $7.5 billion, and junk bonds made up of $8.5 billion of the investments, the Financial Times reported.

Amazon.com Inc. AMZN alone raised $10 billion in debt offering earlier this week, as reported by the Financial Times earlier. The publication said the funding was raised at the record lowest rate for any bond in U.S. corporate history.

Bond issuance has seen a surge in the U.S. as companies scramble to raise funds to weather the economic impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Apple Inc. AAPL, Boeing Company BA, Walt Disney Company DIS, and AT&T Inc. T raised some of the other high-profile debt offerings this year.

According to Refinitiv data reported by the Financial Times, the U.S. corporate bond market crossed $1 trillion by the end of May. For comparison, $1.2 trillion was raised in bonds in the entire year of 2019.