Cisco Systems Inc. and U.S. wireless carrier clearwire corp. led $96.9 billion of bond sales this month, the busiest november since 2006, as companies took advantage of near-zero interest rates.

Network-equipment maker cisco sold $5 billion of notes in its third debt offering since going public in 1990, according to data compiled by bloomberg. Clearwire, seeking to finance construction of a high-speed wireless network, borrowed $2.52 billion in two offerings. november sales compare with $45.8 billion last year and $125 billion in 2006, bloomberg data show.

Borrowers have sold $1.178 trillion of bonds this year, surpassing the annual record set in 2007, as they seize on lower borrowing costs to extend debt maturities and avoid the refinancing risk faced during last year’s credit freeze. U.S. government efforts to encourage lending and bolster an economic recovery have spurred the record debt sales, said Robert Schumacher, senior portfolio manger with La Defense, France- based Axa investment Managers.

“If you tell corporate America they have the opportunity to be rebuilding balance sheets and get their house in order and be assured of a lower source of funding for an extended period of time, businesses are going to react, and they’re already starting to,” said Schumacher, who helps oversee $30 billion in fixed-income assets from Greenwich, Connecticut.

Yields on investment-grade bonds relative to benchmark treasury rates narrowed 2 basis points this month to 216 basis points as of Nov. 25, according to Merrill Lynch’s U.S. Corporate Master index. They have declined 388 basis points since Dec. 31, 2008. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

‘Extended’ Ease

The Federal Reserve under Chairman Ben S. Bernanke this month repeated its promise to keep interest rates near zero for an “extended period.” Economists surveyed by bloomberg forecast the jobless rate will remain above 10 percent through the first half of next year.

The U.S. economy expanded less than initially estimated last quarter as consumer spending trailed forecasts, the Commerce Department said Nov. 24. Gross domestic product grew at a 2.8 percent annual pace, compared with a prior estimate of 3.5 percent.

“Things are still a little shaky, and we’re still looking for what that catalyst is going to be that carries us beyond government stimulus here domestically,” said Lon Erickson, who helps oversee $4 billion in fixed-income assets at Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Thornburg investment Management.

“It’s unclear to me that a lot of it is for real strong capital investment and for growth,” Erickson said of the record corporate bond issuance this year.

Cisco Issue

Cisco, the world’s top maker of networking equipment, was the largest nonfinancial issuer in november, bloomberg data show. The San Jose, California-based company sold $5 billion of debt split among 5-, 10- and 30-year bonds on Nov. 9, the data show. The company borrowed $4 billion in a Feb. 9 offering.

Companies sold $4.4 billion of investment-grade bonds this week, and $80 billion in all of november, bloomberg data show. Royal Bank of Scotland Plc was the biggest borrower this month, issuing $7 billion of U.K. government-backed notes.

Investment-grade corporate bonds have returned 1.2 percent in november, their eighth-consecutive month of gains, merrill lynch data show. They have returned 20.7 percent for the year following a 6.8 percent loss in 2008.

High-yield, high-risk bonds have returned 1.1 percent this month and 52.9 percent in 2009, after losing 26.4 percent last year, Merrill data show.

Clearwire Returns

Clearwire, based in Kirkland, Washington, led $16.9 billion of high-yield bond sales this month. The company sold $920 million of six-year notes on Nov. 24, less than a week after issuing $1.6 billion of debt, bloomberg data show. Junk bond issuers sold $2.1 billion of debt this week, compared with $7 billion a week earlier.

Speculative-grade bond yields narrowed 3 basis points this month relative to benchmarks to 757 basis points on Nov. 25, according to Merrill Lynch’s index. Junk spreads rose 3 basis points this week.

High-yield, high-risk, or junk, bonds are rated below Baa3 by Moody’s Investors Service and BBB- by Standard & Poor’s.

Among companies seeking to issue debt is dollar financial corp. The Berwyn, Pennsylvania-based check-cashing company plans to sell $250 million of senior notes through its subsidiary National Money Mart in a private offering.