Investors are borrowing record sums of money to finance trades on the New York Stock Exchange, according to data due out from the Big Board today.

NYSE officials attribute the trend to recent regulatory changes effectively allowing both small and big investors to take on more leverage, or borrowed money, from their brokers. So-called margin debt, a broad measure of leverage, jumped 11% to $353 billion at NYSE in May, up from nearly $318 billion in April.

Wall Street has had a love affair with leverage in recent years, typified by hedge funds and private-equity firms that make use of it to buy companies and stocks and bonds.