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blue-chip companies are piling into the u.s. corporate bond market at the fastest pace ever, taking advantage of lower borrowing costs ahead of the u.s. election.

on tuesday, september 3rd, eastern time, a total of 29 blue-chip companies, including ford motor credit co., a financial services company under ford motor, and fifth third bancorp, which operates fifth third bank, issued corporate bonds on this day. the media that compiled the data pointed out that this was the busiest issuance day in the history of the corporate bond market. in september, the issuance scale of high-rated bonds in the united states is expected to be about us$125 billion.

coincidentally, the tuesday after labor day a year ago was also the busiest trading day of the year for the investment and bond markets, with 20 companies issuing a total of us$36.2 billion in bonds on that day.

the surge in corporate bond issuance reflects the desire of corporate treasurers to lock in debt when risk premiums are low. on friday, the average spread on high-rated u.s. corporate bonds was 93 basis points, the lowest since july 31. the average yield on bonds has fallen to less than 5%, making borrowing more attractive.

matt brill, head of north american investment-grade credit at invesco, commented that summer is officially over and companies are looking to borrow while the market is open and don’t want to run into any volatility during the u.s. election. he pointed out

“investment-grade corporate bond yields have fallen sharply over the past month, so it’s much cheaper for companies to borrow now. we usually think that bond issuance will pick up after labor day, but this time the issuance was even greater than we expected.”