Corporate bond offerings surged to the highest level in four weeks as borrowers from General Electric Co.'s finance unit to Time Warner Inc. took advantage of growing confidence that Europe's debt crisis will be contained.

Kohl's Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. department store chain, and Montreal-based National Bank of Canada are also among companies selling $9.03 billion of debt in the U.S. yesterday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Laredo Petroleum Inc. is marketing $150 million of high-yield, high-risk bonds in the first offering of the debt since Sept. 27, according to a person familiar with the transaction.

Issuance is showing signs of life after failing to exceed the 2011 weekly average of $24.4 billion for three straight periods, Bloomberg data show. Political leaders in Slovakia, the only country in the 17-member euro area yet to sign off on the European Financial Stability Facility, agreed today to approve the region's enhanced bailout fund, spurring investor optimism that the global economy may avoid recession.