Corporate bond issuance nears $6.4 trillion, pandemic bonds hit $87 billion

Global corporate bond issuance is on pace to reach a historical high in 2020, as total capital raised nears $6.4 trillion — already 71% of 2019's total. Chinese and U.S. companies led with $1.9 trillion and $1.6 trillion of aggregate debt issued, respectively. Corporate yields fell to new lows in China during the second quarter, bottoming out at 3.05%, according to the Bloomberg Barclays China Corporate Total Return index. U.S. corporate yields also fell to new lows, albeit by a more volatile path. The current yield-to-worst for the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Corporate Total return index was about 2.3% on Friday morning, down since peaking at 4.58% on March 20.

Additionally, corporate bonds sold specifically to manage the COVID-19 crisis reached $87.9 billion, $500 million of which is set to start accruing interest in the coming weeks. The largest of which was the World Bank's $8 billion offering in mid-April, the proceeds from which will be used to help member countries manage the impacts of COVID-19, both human and economic.