Corporate finance: Companies can’t hoard cash forever

Corporates are still squirrelling away cash, so bond issuance has shrunk. When and how will the cash be put to work?

Forecasts for global corporate bond issuance in 2011 varied wildly as the markets closed for 2010. The lack of consensus can be attributed to one vexed question in corporate finance: what will companies do with all that cash? US corporations, for instance, have been hoarding cash at the fastest rate in half a century. Non-financial companies had $1.93 trillion in cash and other liquid assets on their balance sheets at the end of September, according to the Federal Reserve.

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