As interest rates climb and the economy cools, can companies pay their debts?
The risks might lie in shadowy private markets
Welcome to the American corporate-debt market of 2022. Often the only risky bonds that are being issued are the legacy debts of a now ancient-seeming time—when interest rates were low and a recession was unthinkable. Elsewhere, the high-yield market has almost ground to a halt. A paltry $83bn of risky debt has been issued so far in 2022, 75% less than in the same period last year.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Bills, bills, bills”
Finance & economics July 9th 2022
- America rethinks its strategy for taking on China’s economy
- Do cheaper commodities herald a recession?
- What a tycoon’s trial says about the rot in China’s financial system
- Crypto’s last man standing
- As interest rates climb and the economy cools, can companies pay their debts?
- Are central banks in emerging markets now less of a slave to the Fed?
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