The Decade of Debt: big deals, bigger risk

In all, corporate bond debt outstanding rocketed more than 50% and will soon top $10 trillion, versus about $6 trillion at the end of the previous decade. The largest U.S. companies - those in the S&P 500 Index account for roughly 70% of that, nearly $7 trillion.

NEW YORK: Whatever nickname ultimately gets attached to the now-ending Twenty-tens, on Wall Street and across Corporate America it arguably should be tagged as the "Decade of Debt."

With interest rates locked in at rock-bottom levels courtesy of the Federal Reserve's easy-money policy after the financial crisis, companies found it cheaper than ever to tap the corporate bond market to load up on cash.