Summary Bullets

• The size of the U.S. corporate bond market, as measured by the Fed’s Flow of Funds, totals $13.1 trillion at the end of Q1 2018
• It includes $10.2 trillion of domestic issues and $2.8 trillion of foreign issues held by U.S. residents
• The market has increased from 45.7 percent of GDP at the end of 1999 to 65.4 percent of GDP
• The total size of the market has grown by 188 percent since the turn of the century as compared to nominal GDP growth of 102 percent
• Foreigners hold 30 percent of the market, almost double from the end of 1999
• Life insurance companies are the largest domestic holder of corporate bonds
• Mutual funds are the second largest domestic investors at 15.4 percent followed by households (including hedge funds), private pension funds, and state & local govt retirement funds
• The corporate bond market is now 65.4 of U.S. GDP, of which, domestic issuers total 51 percent of GDP