#Investors say the tightening of #spreads this year has been fuelled partly by a shrinking #JunkBond market, with relatively low new issuance and several upgrades to IG territory helping to anchor prices at artificially high levels, chart @FT bit.ly/3QhXHZX

A steep rise in interest rates since early last year has helped deter companies from selling new bonds – The $1.35trn US #JunkBond market has shrunk by almost $200bn since its all-time peak in late 2021, chart @FT https://tinyurl.com/yaznsaey

So far this year, companies have issued $91bn of speculative-grade #bonds, up 35% from the year-earlier period, when rapidly rising rates cut #JunkBond issuance to a trickle, chart @WSJecon https://shorturl.at/ejsJP

Europe’s outperformance against US #equities this year extends to the #junkbond markets as well. European HY debt has gained about 3.6% this year, outpacing 2.2% returns for their US counterparts, chart @markets https://cutt.ly/L8ywKJB