McDonald's Corp. and Qwest Corp. led at least $8.22 billion in company bond sales in the U.S. Tuesday on the busiest day for issuance in almost two weeks as optimism grew that Europe's debt crisis will be contained.

McDonald's, the world's largest restaurant chain, sold $500 million of 2.625 percent notes due in January 2022 that yield 78 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Denver-based Qwest, a unit of CenturyLink Inc., issued $950 million of debt maturing in December 2021 that pay a spread of 500 basis points, or 5 percentage points, Bloomberg data show.

Corporate bond offerings rebounded after falling last week to $1.7 billion, the lowest level this year, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner predicting that European governments will use more force to resolve the region's crisis. Companies from 3M Co. to AES Corp. issued $3.2 billion of debt yesterday, Bloomberg data show.