July 30, 2007 (LPAC)--The issuance of high quality investment grade bonds has almost collapsed according to figures released by Thompson Financial and reported in Financial Times of London on July 29. In July only 98.4 billion dollars has been issued as compared with $289 billion in June, the slowest since August 2004.

This follows the plunge in the sales of high-yield low-grade bonds in the United States to $2.4 billion, down from $22.5 billion in June. Leveraged loans are down as well with only $29.8 billion sold down from $46.6 billion in June.

The FT attributes this to the "contraction in credit markets." How's that for an understatement?