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The article reports on the impact of the European sovereign debt crisis on the U.S. corporate bond market from 2009 to 2011. It shows that interest rates on U.S. corporate bonds have been affected by corporate bond market shocks originating in Europe. It estimates contagion coefficients of around 0.44 to 0.85, which means that a one percentage point increase in European corporate bond spreads translated on average to a 0.44 to 0.85 percentage point increase in corporate bond spreads in the U.S.

The article reports on the decision to withdraw the 300 million U.S. dollar 10-year-bond for Smiths Group, a high tech machinery maker in Great Britain, due to unreceptiveness from the market. Some of the factors that contributed to the withdrawal of the bond deal, include the European sovereign debt crisis and the difficulty to find the right pricing. A syndicate source relates the attributes that investors are looking for in deals in the bond markets.

The article reports on the poor performance of the U.S. corporate bond market in April 2012. It is noted that the Eurozone crisis has affected the behavior of investors and borrowers. A syndicate banker stated that investors are not really concerned about a short term slowdown in the U.S. economy and the overall market was negatively affected by the European sovereign debt crisis.