Market Extra: Exxon borrows $9.5 billion as investment-grade companies race to fill war chests ahead of earnings

Market Extra: Exxon borrows $9.5 billion as investment-grade companies race to fill war chests ahead of earnings

Exxon Mobil Corp., undeterred by sinking oil prices, borrowed another $9.5 billion in the U.S. corporate bond market on Monday, adding to the rush of companies building up a war chest of cash amid the coronavirus pandemic.. U.S. investment-grade corporate bonds have since staged a powerful rally , in no small part due to the Federal Reserve's up-to-$2.3 trillion lifeline to keep credit flowing through financial markets.. U.S. stocks ended Monday's session mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average. also issued $6 billion of investment-grade bonds on Monday to pay down some debt and to push back maturities, while also repaying some of its intercompany loan to its GE Capital subsidiary.. Exxon's debt deal comes less than two weeks after Moody's Investors Service cut the oil giant's top credit ratings to Aa1 from Aaa with a negative outlook, due to collapsing oil prices, its "sizable negative free cash flow funded through debt in 2020" and the uncertainty unleashed by the pandemic.. The company said in a statement to MarketWatch that new bonds issued on Monday will be used for general corporate purposes.. In March, the company also issued $8.5 billion worth of corporate bonds and