rising Coporate bonds and growing total confidence in economic recovery.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Bank of America Corp. took $ 15,500,000,000 of corporate bond sales in the U.S. this week, pushing the monthly release in late December 2009 amid growing total confidence in economic recovery.

Occidental Petroleum, the largest producer of oil in the ground in the continental U.S., sold $ 2,600,000,000 of notes in the largest offering in over five weeks. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America issued $ 1.5 billion of fixed rate debt in its first such sale since August.

corporate bond issuance has risen to 62.6 billion U.S. dollars this month, surpassing the 58.1 billion U.S. dollars sold throughout December 2009, as yields on the contract, the company's debt investment grade tighter since May-junk bond spreads to levels last seen more than three years ago. Investors are betting the recovery of U.S. economy will accelerate even if the European countries struggle to manage their debts, said James Barnes, a money manager at National Penn Investors Trust Co.

"What is winning at the moment is the possibility that it is the economic expansion we've all been waiting for," said Barnes, who helps oversee $ 1 billion in fixed income assets in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. "The market saw what was happening abroad and pushed him aside."

The extra yield investors demand to own high yield, high risk, or junk, bonds were unchanged at 554 basis points this week, after trading as low as 540, the narrowest since November 16, 2007, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch High Yield Master II index. absolute returns of debt fell 2 basis points to 7.91 percent, the index data show.

Greece Reviews

The high-yield bonds are rated below Baa3 by Moody's Investors Service and below BBB-by Standard & Poor's. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

Moody's downgraded the credit rating five levels to Baa1 Ireland and Greece yesterday placed bonds Ba1 ratings on review for possible downgrade. Spain sold 2.4 million euros (3.2 billion) in bonds, unless your ultimate goal, as funding costs rose after Moody's said it was considering the possibility of reducing the country's Aa1 rating .

Spreads on corporate bonds with investment grade fell 2 basis points to 169 basis points, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch U.S. Corporate Master Index. The bond yields 4.12 percent, 3 basis points lower than last week, the index data show.

Slow pace

This week's sales have dropped from an average of 2010 of $ 22.5 million last week to 30.3 billion U.S. dollars.

"With yields rising Treasury bond, which could have put people off a bit, because all the yields are not as attractive as it used to be earlier this year," said Mirko Mikelic, a money manager high level who helps oversee 14 billion U.S. dollars of fixed income assets at Fifth Third Asset Management in Grand Rapids, Michigan. "Everybody expected to increase yields, but that has happened so quickly now."

Treasury notes and 10 years, the market barometer, rose at a rate of 3.56 percent until December 16, the highest since May, after the Federal Reserve said that economic recovery continues and keeps its $ 600 billion purchase of the debt. That is 99 basis points more than the yield of 3 November, the day the Fed announced its plan, and 6 basis points less than a year ago.

speculative-grade borrowers Swift Transportation Co. for Syniverse Holdings Inc. sold 4.18 billion U.S. dollars of high-yield debt this week.

Western oil sales

Occidental Petroleum, based in Los Angeles, sold $ 600 million three-year bonds yield 50 basis points more than similar Treasury bonds to maturity, $ 700 million five-year debt with a spread 60 basis points and $ $ 1.3 million 10-year bonds at 80 basis points above the benchmark December 13. It was the largest sale since Coca-Cola Co. $ 4,500,000,000 of securities issued on 4 November.

Bank of America, the largest U.S. lender, issued bonds to 10 years in its first offer for sale of $ 1.5 billion five-year debt on August 17, before facing the demands of investors in mortgage to repurchase almost $ 13 billion in loans that have not been able to document key data such as values and household income.

The borrowers are rushing to issue debt to take advantage of low income before interest rates rise further, said Chad Morganlander, a Florham Park, New Jersey, a fund manager based Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., which has $ 90 billion in assets.

"We're still in the world of cheap money," said Morganlander. "Measuring Treasury yields 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent, is to encourage corporate decision makers to accelerate their release after the New Year."