Spud never does grasp the difference between net and gross in investment flows, does he? US companies have sold $1.7tn of investment-grade bonds in 2025, a near-record sum stoked by a rush of borrowing to fund AI infrastructure that has spurred concerns over a debt glut. OK. AI-related borrowing now accounts for around 30 per… Read More »Hoo, Boy The post Hoo, Boy first appeared on Tim Worstall.
Spud never does grasp the difference between net and gross in investment flows, does he?
US companies have sold $1.7tn of investment-grade bonds in 2025, a near-record sum stoked by a rush of borrowing to fund AI infrastructure that has spurred concerns over a debt glut.
OK.
AI-related borrowing now accounts for around 30 per cent of net investment-grade issuance,
OK.
Now Spud:
Second, your pension fund will have little way of avoiding bonds issued by AI companies as a result of them now representing 30% of investment-grade issuance.
No, gross investment grade is the $1.7 tr. AI’s 30% is of net issuance, after subtracting the amount that is to refinance or rollover.
We can check this:
As cloud infrastructure providers move toward AI and data center expansion, their issuance of roughly $121 billion in new debt this year
From which we can back calculate that net issuance this year is of the order of $400b, mebbe 450b.
This is the man who would redesign our entire pensions system for us. Unable to distinguish between net and gross.
The post Hoo, Boy first appeared on Tim Worstall.
