The investment-grade corporate bond market is having one of its busiest stretches in recent memory, and according to one of JPMorgan’s fixed-income managers, that’s not really a problem. Kelsey Berro, a portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset Management, argues that demand for corporate debt is strong enough to absorb the wave of new paper without meaningful disruption.
The supply picture
September 2025 was one of the most active months for US investment-grade corporate bond issuance on record, with volumes landing in the range of $172 billion to $226 billion, driven by a cocktail of AI infrastructure spending, corporate refinancing, and merger-related financing.
Looking further out, the pipeline doesn’t slow down. JPMorgan projects that investment-grade supply could reach between $1.8 trillion and $2.1 trillion in 2026.
As of mid-2026, US investment-grade option-adjusted spreads sat around 78 basis points, near historical lows. That’s the premium investors demand over government bonds to hold corporate debt, and it’s remarkably tight given the issuance volume.
