Investors pile into corporate bonds

Bond sales have hit record levels in US markets in the first two weeks of the year, with about $67bn (£42bn) of new bonds sold, according to Thomson Reuters.

Most of the bond sales have come from non-US financial companies, such as HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group, marking the busiest start to the year on record, the Financial Times reports. Appetite for high yield debt has also been strong - analysts estimate $15.5bn of junk bonds - or sub-investment grade bonds - were sold last week, equivalent to the record weekly sales reached in August last year. Despite the strong demand for bonds, investors are still wary about the credit they purchase. The eurozone sovereign debt crisis mean new bonds offered by European banks, which may have expos...