High Yield Spreads Down 20% From St. Patrick's Day High

Since the St. Patrick's Day inflection point, spreads on high yield corporate bonds are down over 20% from their high of 862 basis points (bps) versus US Treasuries (based on the Merrill Lynch Index of high yield debt). As long as spreads can continue to come in, the environment for equities should remain positive, but at a level of 685 bps, spreads remain over 180% off their lows last June.