TechFlow news, January 7 — According to Jinshi News citing S&P Global Market Intelligence data, the number of U.S. corporate bankruptcy filings in 2024 reached 686, an 8% increase year-on-year, marking the highest level since 2010 (828 cases). At least 30 of these companies had over $1 billion in liabilities when filing for bankruptcy, including well-known firms such as Party City, Tupperware, and Red Lobster.
Specific figures show that U.S. corporate bankruptcy applications were only 777 from 2021 to 2022, rising sharply to 636 in 2023. Fitch Ratings data indicates that in 2024, the ratio of out-of-court restructurings to bankruptcies was approximately 2:1, while recovery rates on senior loans for issuers with total debt exceeding $100 million fell to their lowest level since 2016.
Gregory Daco, Chief Economist at EY, pointed out that rising costs of goods and services continue to suppress consumer demand, leading consumers across all income groups to adopt more cautious spending behaviors. Although the Federal Reserve has started cutting interest rates, it plans only an additional 50 basis points of rate cuts in 2025. Experts from Academy Securities believe that the current level of corporate bankruptcies poses limited systemic risk to the broader economy and banking sector, but corporate debt conditions under prolonged high-interest-rate environments warrant continued monitoring.
