Higher interest rates are subtly making their way into consideration among company leaders.

Even as the U.S.

Federal Reserve is expected to ease its policy in the near future and provide less expensive capital, growing corporate borrowing expenses are unavoidable.

To make ends meet, firms may be left seeking savings in other area.

Stock buybacks, new initiatives, and cash-funded acquisitions are particularly at risk.

The main and most serious implications of 11 quick successive increases in the U.S.

federal funds rate have primarily been absorbed by the financial system.

The evidence of new highs in the S&P 500 Index this year attests to diminishing worries.

However, this newfound optimism overlooks the subtle impacts likely to last for years.

As companies consistently refinance their debt, inevitably at higher costs, many will face tough decisions.

Business balance sheets are generally healthy.

Many CFOs utilized the chance given during the pandemic, and sometimes even earlier, to secure ultra-low rates and extend the maturity of their debt.

Companies with higher credit ratings accomplished this more effortlessly than their weaker counterparts, but such efforts were widespread.

For example, Comcast (ASX:CMCSA), with nearly $88 billion of net debt making it one of the world’s biggest corporate borrowers, is notable.

The company’s president, Michael Cavanagh, has boasted about the American cable provider’s ability to refinance about 40% of its liabilities since 2018.

He informed investors that lengthening the average maturity by four years to a total of 17 years at a mostly fixed 3.6% cost should set it at a substantial advantage compared to telecommunications industry competitors such as Verizon (ASX:VZ) and AT&T (ASX:T).

BHP (ASX:BHP) is an international Australian mining company.