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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The riskiest US corporate bonds have come under fresh pressure this year, setting them apart from a rally across broader debt markets as investors remain fearful about stop-start access to funding and deepening distress for low-grade borrowers.
Triple C-rated US bonds — the bottom rung of the credit quality ladder — are yielding 13.6 per cent on average, according to data from Ice BofA, up from just over 13 per cent at the end of 2023. Rising yields reflect falling prices.
In turn, the spread — meaning the premium that those lowly-rated borrowers must pay to issue debt over the US Treasury — has ballooned to 9.28 percentage points from 8.51 per cent in late December.
Those moves mark a divergence from a rally across higher-quality credit markets in recent weeks that has fuelled a wave of debt issuance….
