Corporate debt market improves--barely

According to Standard & Poor's, more than $700 billion in corporate debt will come due in 2009--at the worst possible time. Southwest Airlines may have been among the lucky ones when it went to borrow $400 million. The terms were not exactly envious. It had to pay 10.5 percent interest and put up 17 jets as collateral, but it had no choice. Still, it's better off than its competitors, which are not likely to be able to raise funds at all. For all the angst, at least the market is allowing deals. You couldn't say that a few months ago. Lots of big financial companies at least have the advantage of government guarantees. Not so for a lot of others. So while the corporate high-grade market has revived, it's not a source of comfort for a lot of companies.

For more:
- here's the New York Times article