By Shankar Ramakrishnan and Matt Tracy

May 5 (Reuters) - Apple ( AAPL ) is planning a

four-tranche bond offering on Monday, its first in two years,

using proceeds to repurchase stock and repay outstanding debt,

among other purposes, the company said in an SEC filing.

The offering size was not stated but CreditSights analysts

expect it to raise nearly $5 billion to $6 billion, noting that

Apple ( AAPL ) has $8 billion in debt maturing from May through November.

Eight other issuers in the investment-grade primary market

are also expected to kick off an unusually active week with

estimated total of nearly $35 billion of new debt offerings.

These include notes from Comcast ( CMCSA ), DTE Electric Co

and General Motors ( GM ).

New bond supply is rising as credit spreads, or the premium

companies pay over Treasuries, have rebounded in the weeks since

U.S. President Donald Trump first announced harsh tariffs and

then provided temporary relief.

Many issuers had planned offerings sooner but were thrown

off by the uncertainty of Trump's policies. They are rushing to

market before the Federal Reserve meets on Wednesday to avoid

the typical volatility that immediately follows the Fed chair's

comments after such monthly policymaking meetings.

Demand is expected to remain strong as uncertainty

pushed investors to look for safety in higher-rated bonds,

analysts said.

The issuance rush follows six consecutive weeks of outflows

from investment-grade funds, the longest streak since November

2022, noted Dan Krieter, director of fixed income strategy at

BMO Capital Markets.

"It's a pretty attractive space to lock in these all-in

yields," said Natalie Trevithick, head of investment grade

credit strategy at Los Angeles-based asset manager Payden &

Rygel.

The average investment-grade bond spread was at 106

basis points on Friday, the latest data shows, or three basis

points lower than levels touched the day before.

"The issuance is a lot of high quality names today, (and) a

lot of it is just regularly planned issuance. There are probably

a couple deals that got pushed back from April," Trevithick

noted.

Payden & Rygel expects $12 billion to $13 billion of

supply on Monday, with roughly $58 billion of investor demand,

she added.