...when a record 20 companies sold $26 billion of bonds on Tuesday alone, taking advantage of the plunge in borrowing costs over the past month to load up on cheap debt.

Investment grade companies such as media giant Disney, consumer giant Unilever, E&P icon Phillips 66, tractor maker Deere and industrial bellwether Caterpillar were among the 20 issuers tapping the market, according to Bank of America. Disney alone issued $7 billion of bonds across six maturities; its 30-year bond, the largest tranche at $2bn, sold for just 95 basis points above Treasury yields (a 7 basis point new issue concession) compared with an average of 124bp for an index of 30-year corporate debt. Other companies also took the opportunity to push out the average maturity of their debt by issuing longer-dated bonds: 12 of the bond issues had a maturity of 30 years, while ING went so far as to issue a "perpetual" bond.