Risk aversion, the likes of which hasn’t been seen in recent decades, is slamming Japan’s usually staid corporate bond market as climbing yields and the yen’s plunge to a 20-year low limit debt sales to some of the safest, most conservative issuers. An astonishing fact emerges when debt sales data for Japan’s fiscal year started this month are examined: issuance by power utilities made up fully 65% of all deals, the highest proportion for any April or year in Bloomberg-compiled data going back to 1999. By comparison, those firms, all with investment-grade scores from local rating firms, comprised 16% of all offerings ... (full story)