1.Junk Bond Sales Dried Up at End of 2018.
Slack investor demand recently lifted to the highest level in more than two years the premium, or spread, that companies with junk credit ratings must pay over risk-free government debt. The corresponding fall in high-yield bond prices last quarter erased investors’ gains in what had been one of the few bright spots in the bond market in the first nine months of 2018.
Junk-rated companies haven’t been completely absent from the debt markets. Issuance of so-called leveraged loans totaled $25 billion in November and December, according to LCD, a unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence. But that was still a significant slowdown from prior months.
Junk-Bond Sale Ends 40-Day Market Drought
Deal follows record dry spell that began in November, suggesting an improving corporate-debt market
By
Daniel Kruger and Sam Goldfarb
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