The market for corporate borrowing through commercial papercontracted for an eighth week, reaching the lowest level in 21months, as issuers reduced the amount of short-term IOUs and soldlonger-dated corporate bonds, with yields at about record lows.

The seasonally adjusted amount of U.S. commercial paper dropped$19.2 billion to $924.4 billion outstanding in the week endedyesterday, the Federal Reserve said today on its website. That'sthe longest stretch of declines in a year and the lowest levelsince the market touched $916.8 billion in the period ended Jan.19, 2011, according to Fed data compiled by Bloomberg.

Borrowers are taking advantage of unprecedented low interestrates to sell longer-term company bonds and to reduce the risk of asqueeze in short-term lending amid Europe's persistent debtcrisis.