DuPont Co. and the European Investment Bank led issuers that sold almost $13 billion of debt in the U.S. last week

DuPont Co. and the European Investment Bank led issuers that sold almost $13 billion of debt in the U.S. last week, the most in four weeks, as borrowers raised funds before a possible increase in interest rates. DuPont, the second-biggest U.S. chemical maker after Dow Chemical Co., sold $500 million of 10-year notes and $900 million of six-year notes. The European Investment Bank, which helps fund European Union projects, issued $1.5 billion of 10-year notes. New debt sales totaled about $10 billion the previous week. The sale of bonds increased during a week when a U.S. government report showed inflation may be accelerating. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, a base for pricing corporate debt, rose 5 basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, last week to 4.51 percent and has climbed almost 75 basis points in six weeks. Borrowers are trying to sell debt before the Federal Reserve raises its overnight lending rate, said Joe Jackson, a portfolio manager at BB&T Asset Management in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Fed's lending rate has been at a 45-year low of 1 percent since June. It hasn't been increased since May 2000.