The value of fresh capital raised by US companies from follow-on offerings so far in May is already a monthly record, according to new figures, as banks rushed to the market in a bid to bolster their reserves in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s stress tests.

Daniel Cummings, co-head of equity capital markets for the Americas at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said: "In the last three to four weeks issuance has been at a breakneck speed and will pull back a little bit towards the end of the quarter. However I am reasonably optimistic we will see a continuation of volumes as we are in the midst of a re-equitization and recapitalization that will take some time."