We examine portfolio trading and its impact on corporate bond liquidity. Our theoretical framework identifies how portfolio trades provide dealers with benefits through a diversification channel and with costs through a balance sheet channel. We then test empirically multiple hypotheses on the...

Corporate bond dealers build up considerable inventories for which they rely on short-term funding. I provide empirical evidence that dealers' inventory financing constraints are a crucial determinant of the costs of their liquidity provision in corporate bond markets. Constructing a unique...