NEW YORK (AP) - As investors slowly start buying commercial paper again, the frozen market for longer-term corporate debt is also showing small, tentative signs of thaw.

Altria Group, which owns No. 1 U.S. cigarette maker Philip Morris USA, sold $6 billion in bonds earlier this week — an issuance that alone tops the weekly market totals since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s bankruptcy in September.

It's a good sign for the long-term corporate debt markets, in which demand has dropped off, interest rates have soared, and borrowers have recoiled from paying often unmanageable prices for funding.

But investors aren't cheering yet — corporate debt issuance is still tough for most companies. The swap market, where corporate borrowers decide whether or not to switch their floating rates to fixed rates, on Thursday still showed "very high levels of anxiety," said Howard Simons, strategist with Bianco Research in Chicago.

"Everyone wants to be a short-term lender, not a long-term lender. So long as that persists, the cost of capital in the corporate and mortgage markets is going to remain high," Simons said.

Altria's five-year, 10-year, and 30-year notes had interest rates of 8.5 percent, 9.7 percent, and 9.95 percent, respectively, according to Fitch Ratings. Fitch said Altria is using the proceeds to fund a portion of its acquisition of UST Inc.

Fortunately, it appears that corporate bond issuance will be higher this week than it was last week, said Miller Tabak & Co analyst Tony Crescenzi in a note Thursday. It will still be well below levels seen before Lehman went bankrupt, but any improvement is welcome.

"When U.S. companies return to the corporate bond market to raise money, the credit markets will be viewed as functioning more normally," Crescenzi wrote.

There are signs of improvement in other parts of the tight credit markets, too.

Lending rates between banks fell for the 19th straight day Thursday. The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, on three-month loans in dollars dropped 0.12 percentage points to 2.39 percent, its lowest level since November 2004.

Also, the amount of commercial paper in the market increased for the second straight week in the week ended Wednesday, albeit at a slower pace, the Fed said Thursday. Commercial paper outstanding increased by $50.5 billion to a seasonally adjusted $1.60 trillion in the week ended Wednesday, after rising by $100.5 billion in the previous week.

The amount outstanding remains down from $1.82 trillion eight weeks ago, and down from $2.2 trillion at the market's peak in the summer of 2007.

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