Corporate Borrowing & Debt

The added demand for cash could nudge borrowing costs up across the rest of corporate America.

Analysts expect U.S. high-grade corporate bond spreads to widen.

A pension plan that bought the bonds claims Oracle didn’t tell investors it needed to raise a “significant amount of additional debt” to finance its AI build-out.

Across the United States, Europe, and Asia, businesses and governments have borrowed roughly US$260 billion so far, and a barrage of offerings from borrowers in Asia is poised to push that number higher.

January is expected to set a record for bond sales, reaching $215 billion in high-grade debt issued by the end of the month.

The sums are so large that issuers will have to tap just about all major debt markets, and it could take years for these tech investments to pay off—if they pay off at all. The rush has left some lenders overexposed.