U.S. Junk-Bond Sales Topple Another Record Amid Yield Hunt

Insatiable investor appetite for U.S. corporate debt, record-low costs for borrowers and unprecedented central bank support combined to make this the busiest ever August for high-yield issuance volume.

Issuers had racked up about $30.8 billion in volume by the end of the Tuesday, using just seven business days to smash the previous August record of $28.5 billion from 2012. Year-to-date supply is also closing in on last year’s entire total, which was just above $269 billion. Lower costs to protect debt against default suggested investors were taking a risk-on approach to the asset class in the morning, but those expenses ...