- Rising borrowing costs made a slight dent in U.S. companies' ability to make interest payments on their debt in the third quarter despite a boost in earnings, according to BofA Global Research.
But the most recent decline came at the same time that company earnings grew. Median year-over-year earnings growth jumped 4.2% in the third quarter, from 0.6% in the second quarter, according to BofA Global. " issuers continued to manage their balance sheets conservatively in 3Q," wrote Yuri Seliger, credit strategist at BofA Global.