Big tech earnings came and went without so much as a hint ofplans for corporate bond sales this year, setting up a Februarydrought that hasn't been seen in years.

Technology heavyweights such as Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp.have made February typically the month of choice to borrow money inthe investment-grade market, according to data compiled byBloomberg. Over each of the past five years, the shortest month onthe calendar saw the most or the second-most tech issuance,accounting for nearly 50 percent of the sector's sales in 2018.

But things look set to change this year, as companies have moremoney on hand after tax legislation made it cheaper to bring backcash from abroad.

“The technology sector has mostly passed on the primary marketsince new tax legislation was rolled out in the beginning of 2018,funding maturities with cash on hand, a dynamic we expect topersist,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Robert Schiffman says.

One of the drivers of corporate bond issuance over the past fewyears has been historically low interest rates, which began tochange last year as the Federal Reserve tightened policy. But whathad more of an impact was U.S. tax reform passed in late 2017,which included a provision allowing companies to repatriate foreignprofits at a lower rate. This left many tech companies with littleneed to borrow.

Take Apple, for example. The company issued $30 billion of bondsacross five deals in 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.Of that, $29 billion went to the company's coffers for generalcorporate purposes.

Apple, like most other major tech issuers, was a bond marketno-show in 2018. And the drought seems to be continuing across thesector. Alphabet Inc., Microsoft, Facebook Inc., and InternationalBusiness Machines Corp. reported quarterly results with little tono indication they would be issuing bonds this year.

Technology companies may not even need to refinance existingdebt, as the sector has more than enough cash to address upcomingbond maturities without issuing any new securities, according toBloomberg Intelligence.

The lack of issuance has helped narrow high-grade bond spreads.For instance, Alphabet has more than $22 billion in free cash flowand hasn't recently issued any new debt, creating scarcity that'spushed its credit to trade at a premium to peers like AAA ratedMicrosoft, according to Schiffman.

That said, some tech companies may still need to sell bonds thisyear. There's $45 billion of investment-grade technology bondsmaturing this year and several acquisitions that still need to bepaid for. IBM may tap the debt market to pay off the $20 billionbridge loan it took to fund part of its Red Hat purchase last year.Broadcom is also in debt with $18 billion in outstanding loans fromits purchase of CA Technologies.

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