Easy credit and lax underwriting have enabled non-financial companies to amass higher debt levels than before the last market crash, the US office of financial research has warned. And while their leverage is rising, earnings are falling, leaving companies with already elevated debt levels at particular risk, the OFR said in a new report. The OFR, created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, said distress in US credit markets has been limited to the energy sector and the lowest-rated issuers of debt. But it warned that trouble might spread as investors begin to reassess the credit and liquidity risks more broadly. "In our assessment, credit risk in the US non-financial business sector is elevated and rising," it said.
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