High-yield bond prices traded sideways last week as volume slowed significantly into the long holiday weekend. Outflows from the asset class remain a headwind with another negative reading for the week ending 11/25 totaling $500 million, the third straight weekly outflow totaling -$3.7 billion for the span. The yield and spread on the Bank of America High-Yield Index widened 2bps and 6bps last week to close at 8.06% and +638 bps respectively, the widest levels since early October. This morning we’re opening with a better tone as global markets advance and US futures move higher as we head into December and a near certainty of a Fed rate hike. Crude is trading modestly higher this morning while treasuries are moving lower pushing the yield on the US 10-year note 1bp wider to 2.23%.

The Bank of America Merrill Lynch High Yield Index monitors the performance of below investment grade U.S. dollar-denominated corporate bonds publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market.  Index data sourced from Bloomberg. Yield referenced is the yield-to-worst and spread referenced is the spread-to-worst.