Companies are taking advantage of investors' appetite for yield—and fear of riskier bets—by issuing more long-term bonds, aiming to reduce their refinancing needs in coming years, when interest rates are likely to be higher, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Investment-grade companies have sold more 30-year bonds in the U.S. so far in 2012 than in any full year since 1995, according to data provider Dealogic. The $91.9 billion of 30-year bonds sold in 166 offerings this year, is about 26 percent more than the $73.2 billion sold in 145 deals during all of 2011. Issuers are being drawn to the longer maturities by low interest rates, the result of the Federal Reserve's loose monetary policy and the global economy's continuing weakness.
