Scott Minerd, global chief investment officer for Guggenheim Partners, said that in the recent market turbulence, “all debt is getting hit.”

“The only period in the last 30 years that corporate spreads have been wider than they are now was from March 2008 to July 2009,” he said.

Problems for highly leveraged companies in the credit markets have contributed to severe losses in equity markets. Goldman Sachs tracks the performance of two portfolios of 50 stocks — one containing stocks with strong balance sheets, the other with weak ones. In March, the strong balance sheet portfolio lost 7.9 percent. But the weak balance sheet portfolio was hit much harder, tumbling 21.2 percent.

The origins of the current high corporate debt levels can be traced to Federal Reserve policies after the financial crisis of 2007-8. More recently, egged on and often attacked by a president who has said, “I love debt,” and who has taken at least four businesses into bankruptcy, the Fed has continued to promote rock-bottom rates. Some investors question those decade-long policies.

“The perpetuation of low interest rates has encouraged corporations to lever up, ” said Paul Boyne, a portfolio manager of the Hancock Global Equity mutual fund.

Grace Hoefig, manager of the Franklin Mutual U.S. Value fund, said many companies used debt to buy back shares when the stock market was riding high.

But now that their stock is cheaper, she said, they are unable to buy. “If you used debt to buy back stocks at high levels, you don’t have the financial stability to buy back stock now,” she said.