Investors Are Paying to Lend to McDonald’s, Not Just to Eat There

(Bloomberg) -- McDonald’s Corp. may boast about how juicy its burgers are, but it can hardly say the same about some of its bond yields.

Investors are now paying to lend euros to the American fast food chain as post-crisis monetary policy has kept interest rates at or near all-time lows. With the European Central Bank ready to add more stimulus to the euro zone, the already record pile of $13.3 trillion of negative-yielding debt is poised to grow even further, sweeping some U.S. issuers in the European market along with it.

Euro-denominated debt issued from McDonald’s with a 4% coupon is now yielding -0.174%, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Its 2% euro bonds due 2023 yield -0.148%.

McDonald’s is hardly alone in this phenomenon, as easy money policies have driven European yields below zero in other U.S. company bonds, too, including some from Apple Inc., PepsiCo Inc., AT&T Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. to name a few.

Of the $13.3 trillion of negative-yielding corporate and sovereign debt as tracked by Bloomberg, $245 billion is from the U.S. and Canada. The U.S. companies’ dollar-denominated debt still offers yields in positive territory, where U.S. interest rates -- though likely to fall -- are still much higher than in Europe.

While these companies are investment-grade rated and already offer less yield than their junk-rated counterparts, some high-yield companies also have bonds that trade with negative yields, such as Altice France SA, Telecom Italia SpA and Nidda Healthcare Holding (Stada).

Read more: Negative-Yield Credit Mountain May Double as Euro Spreads Narrow

--With assistance from Phil Kuntz, Laura Benitez, Tasos Vossos, Benjamin Purvis and Paula Sambo.

To contact the reporter on this story: Molly Smith in New York at msmith604@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nikolaj Gammeltoft at ngammeltoft@bloomberg.net, Dawn McCarty

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