High Yield and Corporate Credit Spreads

Below we highlight historical charts of the Merrill Lynch High Yield and Corporate Credit Spread indices since the end of 1996. These indices measure the difference between yields on comparable length Treasuries and high yield and corporate bonds. The current yield spread between corporates and comparable Treasuries is 540 basis points (bps), while the spread for high yield bonds is 1,544 bps. At their peak, high yield bonds were yielding 21.82% more than comparable Treasuries, so the spread is down 29.24% from its high. Corporate spreads are down 17.68% from their peak. While it's a great sign to see spreads come in, the charts show that they are still extremely high from a historical perspective.