As the Federal Reserve pulls out all the stops to bolster credit markets, corporate America is gorging on debt, Bloomberg News reported. From Carnival Corp., Marriott International Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc. to Gap Inc. and Avis Budget Group Inc., many of the companies hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak have priced billions of dollars of bonds and loans in recent weeks. As expectations of a V-shaped economic recovery vanish rapidly, more and more industry veterans are starting to express concern about these debt dynamics. Some warn that the Fed is putting credit markets on course for a future wave of defaults that makes the current stretch of corporate bankruptcies look timid by comparison. In this scenario, some experts see moribund companies in industries deeply scarred by the pandemic continuing to keep borrowing. Market watchers such as Deutsche Bank AG chief economist Torsten Slok fear that a new breed of so-called zombie companies — firms that don’t earn enough to cover interest payments and are kept alive in part by central bank largess — could have profound and painful consequences for everyone from workers to investors for years to come.
