Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase had huge bond sales

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Three major banks have taken advantage of the recent fall in Treasury yields to sell bonds following their earnings reports this week.

That extra money could help them pass the Federal Reserve’s stress tests, which would allow them to raise dividends and buy shares later this year.

bank of america

(ticker: BAC) sold $ 15 billion worth of bonds in six tranches, the largest sale ever made by a bank, according to Bloomberg. Thursday,

JPMorgan Chase & Co..

(JPM) sold $ 13 billion in bonds in five tranches, which was the largest recorded until Friday’s bid from Bank of America.

Goldman Sachs

(GS) sold $ 6 billion worth of bonds in two tranches. Goldman’s bonds were fixed rate, and the others had a combination of fixed and variable (and fixed to variable) debt.

All three banks hit the market after beating analysts ’earnings forecasts this week. Investors have been optimistic about the prospects of Wall Street banks this year, even after the re-imposition of capital requirements on Treasury deposits and holdings that the Fed had temporarily moderated last year. If banks pass the next round of Fed stress testing, the central bank will raise dividend and repurchase limits that were originally imposed during the Covid-19 crisis last year.

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In notes on offers from JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, CreditSights analysts said they expect these banks to be one of the largest issuers in the market this year.

Companies in general have had easy access to capital markets this year; the bond market, for example, has seen its strongest issuance rate recorded.

Write to Alexandra Scaggs at [email protected]