There was a lot to cheer about the $12 billion bond priced by the US technology giant Apple in mid-February. But as tasty as the transaction was, bond bankers are still suffering a bitter start to the year.

Apple's was a standout trade, for sure. Its green bond tranche was a vote of confidence from one of the world's biggest companies in a burgeoning area of the capital markets. And Deutsche Bank's role as a bookrunner was a vote of confidence in one of Europe's more beleaguered investment banks. The deal helped to take the value of all corporate investment-grade bonds sold in 2016 by the close of February 18 to $213 billion, the highest total by that point in the year since 2009, according to analysis of numbers from Dealogic, a data provider.