Apple's first bond offering in 2 years headlines busy primary
Apple is planning a four-tranche bond offering on Monday, its first in two years, using proceeds to repurchase stock and repay outstanding debt, among other purposes, the company said in an SEC filing.
The offering size was not stated but CreditSights analysts expect it to raise nearly $5 billion to $6 billion, noting that Apple has $8 billion in debt maturing from May through November.
Eight other issuers in the investment-grade primary market are also expected to kick off an unusually active week with estimated total of nearly $35 billion of new debt offerings. These include notes from Comcast, DTE Electric Co and General Motors.
New bond supply is rising as credit spreads, or the premium companies pay over Treasuries, have rebounded in the weeks since U.S. President Donald Trump first announced harsh tariffs and then provided temporary relief.
Many issuers had planned offerings sooner but were thrown off by the uncertainty of Trump's policies. They are rushing to market before the Federal Reserve meets on Wednesday to avoid the typical volatility that immediately follows the Fed chair's comments after such monthly policymaking meetings.
Demand is expected to remain strong as uncertainty pushed investors to look for safety in higher-rated bonds, analysts said.
The issuance rush follows six consecutive weeks of outflows from investment-grade funds, the longest streak since November 2022, noted Dan Krieter, director of fixed income strategy at BMO Capital Markets.
"It's a pretty attractive space to lock in these all-in yields," said Natalie Trevithick, head of investment grade credit strategy at Los Angeles-based asset manager Payden & Rygel.
The average investment-grade bond spread was at 106 basis points on Friday, the latest data shows, or three basis points lower than levels touched the day before.
"The issuance is a lot of high quality names today, (and) a lot of it is just regularly planned issuance. There are probably a couple deals that got pushed back from April," Trevithick noted.
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