A resurgence in high-yield and financial institution bond sales, as well as a continued strong performance for initial public offerings, characterised an unusually busy August for capital markets activity, with the dearth in mergers and acquisitions the only bleak spot in an otherwise strong month for investment banks, according to new research.

In a report from Thomson Reuters, the financial data provider, it said some $8.9bn (€6.2bn) of high-yield bonds were sold globally in the second week of August, which marked the largest week for new sales since March 2007. This helped push year-to-date high-yield issuance globally to $89bn - up 150% from the same period a year ago.