Two companies from the largest sectors of the corporate bond market are preparing deals as part of a raft of jumbo financings that have forced other companies out of the market. France Télécom will this week price $10bn (€11bn) of bonds in three currencies while DaimlerChrysler prepares a &euro5bn-7bn multi-currency issue of its own.

The threat of this supply forced corporate bond yield premiums to widen significantly against government bonds last week. This meant that any company wanting to raise money faced a higher cost of capital. Less needy companies simply pulled back from the market, among them Northumbrian Water, the UK utility, which pulled a £200m (€318m) 25-year bond issue, rather than face extra financing costs in excess of £1m.