Leverage Soars to New Heights as Corporate Bond Deluge Rolls On
- The safe ’part of the market is becoming the most dangerous’
- Debt growth most pronounced in energy and healthcare
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Here’s a gut check for bond investors: corporate America is now more leveraged than ever.
As this year’s corporate bond sales raced past $1 trillion on Wednesday -- marking the fifth consecutive year of trillion-plus issuance -- Morgan Stanley published a report Friday highlighting the growing strains on company balance sheets. The report, which estimated US companies’ collective debt at a record 2.4 times their collective earnings as of June, comes at a time of growing angst in global bond markets