Borrowers have rushed to take advantage of strong demand: after record issuance in 2010 the pace has accelerated in the first two weeks of 2011.
The torrid pace of debt issuance this year came as the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates by a total of 2.75 points, reducing borrowing costs for corporations and adding to investors' return.
Two reports out this week, from the moderate conservative American Action Forum AAFF) and Politico show just how drastically Trump and his cabinet and agency heads have slowed the pace of the issuance of new federal rules and regulations.
Moreover, the quarter ought to have been especially lucrative this year given the brisk pace of corporate-bond issuance as creditworthy companies tried to lock in low borrowing rates.
The pace of debt and share issuance in Europe since 2002 has easily outstripped that in America.
While that sounds like a lot of money, the purchases have not even kept pace with the government's issuance of new debt, so in a sense the effort has amounted to treading water.
During rising rate periods bond issuance has gone down.
At present, rating agencies rate debt only at issuance.
With $184 billion in new public issues sold this year, the market is on pace to approach 2010s record $264 billion in high-yield issuance, according to Thomson Reuters.
Partly as a result, the issuance of medium- and long-term bonds has proceeded at a record pace.
