The Resilience of the U.S. Corporate Bond Market During Financial Crises

Corporate bond markets proved remarkably resilient against a sharp contraction caused by the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.

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Bo Becker (Stockholm School of Economics)

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IWH, conference room and via Zoom

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Bo Becker is the Cevian Capital Professor of Finance in the Department of Finance at the Stockholm School of Economics. Professor Becker's research is on corporate finance, especially corporate credit markets.

Corporate bond markets proved remarkably resilient against a sharp contraction caused by the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. We document three important findings: (1) bond issuance increased immediately when the contraction hit, whereas, in contrast, syndicated loan issuance was low; (2) Federal Reserve interventions increased bond issuance, while loan issuance also increased, but to a lesser degree; and (3) bond issuance was concentrated in the investment-grade segment for large and profitable issuers. We compare these results to previous crises and recessions and document similar patterns. We conclude that the U.S. bond market is an important and resilient source of funding for corporations. Read more ...

To join the lecture via ZOOM, please contact Shasha Li.