Corporate bond offerings worldwide plunged in the third quarter to the lowest level since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s 2008 failure as Europe's sovereign debt crisis caused investors to shun all but the safest securities.

Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's largest maker of personal computers, and Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker Intel Corp. led borrowers issuing $543.2 billion of bonds in the past three months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Issuance fell 41 percent from the second quarter and 38 percent from a year ago as offerings by financial firms and junk-rated companies largely evaporated.

Relative borrowing costs jumped to the highest in more than two years after Standard & Poor's stripped the U.S. of its top credit grade in August and debt swaps signaled a near-certain probability of Greece defaulting. The Federal Reserve failed to ignite issuance after saying it would replace $400 billion of short-term debt in its portfolio with longer-term Treasuries to stave off recession and lower interest rates.