From Dow Jones:
Bonanza Of Buying In Credit Markets
You name it, fixed income investors are buying it.
Investors are cagey about what to call this exuberance in credit markets, but the seemingly insatiable appetite for bonds, loans and credit derivatives has some murmuring about a bubble in the making.
Only a week after battered Ford announced it would tap the debt markets for $18 billion to help staunch a massive cash bleed over the next several years, the auto maker said it would sell even more.
But itâs not just Ford debt that has investors snapping. They swallowed whole HCAâs $5.7 billion junk bond offering and Freescale Semiconductorâs even larger $5.95 billion deal - both of which funded leveraged buyouts. Even hedge funds are finding willing buyers for their debt.
Credit derivatives are also booming with the notional value of the market reaching $26 trillion. Their popularity with investors who want exposure to the credit markets without having to actually hold a bond has led to the creation of newfangled investment vehicles that allow investors to leverage up to 15 times their principal while enjoying the safety of AAA ratings.
For Mark McClellan, chief fixed income strategist at BCA Research in Montreal, the abundance of easy money is making the credit markets look frothy. âWe are in the early stages of a bubble forming,â McClellan said. âThereâs a wall of cash looking for yield, looking for return,â and itâs swamping the available bond issuance.