U.S. companies are turning more to the bond market to fundexpansions than at any time since 2008, a sign businesses arefinally showing some confidence in the economy after hoarding cashfor the past five years.

Of the $1.27 trillion of investment-grade bonds issued in thefirst nine months of the year, companies such as AmericanTransmission Systems Co. and CF Industries Holdings Inc. earmarkedas much as 16 percent for capital spending, according to datacompiled by Moody's Analytics and Bloomberg. That compares with 9percent during the same period in 2013. Companies have invested$900 billion in their businesses this year, a 52 percent increasefrom 2009, Moody's data show.

Corporate executives are providing one of the most bullishsignals yet that growth in the world's biggest economy can besustained. That's in contrast to the first years after thefinancial crisis, when the vast majority of offerings went torefinance existing obligations as the Federal Reserve'sunprecedented stimulus efforts pushed borrowing costs to recordlows.