The main turning point came as Congress and the Trump administration set more than $2 trillion of stimulus into place in late March. That funding calmed markets by enabling the Fed to inject even more liquidity into the economy through several lending facilities that the Treasury backstopped.
Also crucial was a deal to shore up U.S. airlines, key Boeing customers. Governments around the globe have committed about $100 billion to keeping airlines afloat, providing assurance that there will be buyers for Boeing airplanes when the outbreak abates.
A further rally in credit markets since then convinced the company and its bankers that they could move quickly after the release of quarterly earnings on April 29.
Boeing entered Thursday hoping to raise between $10 billion and $15 billion by selling bonds with maturities stretching as far out as 40 years, the people said. As demand for the offering peaked at over $70 billion, company officials realized they didn’t need to look any further for funds, and set the final size of the offering at $25 billion, turning it into the largest U.S. corporate bond sale of the year.
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