Record Corporate Cash, er, Debt

The deception with tact
Just what are you trying to say?
--The Fixx

Pundits like to tout 'record cash' on corporate balance sheets. They ignore, however, a primary source of that cash: borrowing.

In this age of financial repression, voracious appetite for yield has pressed borrowing costs to epic lows. This, in turn, has sparked an orgy of corporate bond issuance.

Thus, while cash levels seem high, when judged relative to the amount of debt taken on to fund those cash levels, cash levels are at historic lows.

Corporate debt and leverage are at historic highs.

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