Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase had large bond sales

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Three major banks have used a recent drop in treasury yields to sell bonds following their earnings reports this week.

That extra cash could help them pass the Federal Reserve’s stress tests, which will enable them to receive dividends and buy back shares later this year.

Bank of America

(tick: BAC) sold $ 15 billion worth of bonds in six parts, according to Bloomberg, the largest sale ever for a bank. On Thursday,

JPMorgan Chase & Co..

(JPM) sold $ 13 billion worth of bonds over five shares, the largest to date of Bank of America’s Friday offering.

Goldman Sachs

(GS) sold $ 6 billion worth of bonds in two parts. Goldman’s bonds were with fixed interest rates, and the others had a mix of fixed and exchange rate (and fixed-to-floating) debt.

All three banks came to market after beating analysts’ earnings forecasts this week. Investors were excited about the outlook for Wall Street banks this year, even after the reinstatement of capital requirements on deposits and the treasury’s holdings that temporarily eased the Fed last year. If the banks pass the Fed’s next round of stress tests, the central bank will lift the limits on dividends and repurchases originally imposed during the Covid-19 crisis last year.

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In notes on the offer from JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, CreditSights analysts said they expect the banks to be one of the largest issuers in the market this year.

Companies in general have had easy access to capital markets this year; the junk bond market, for example, recorded its strongest issuance rate.

Write to Alexandra Scaggs at [email protected]