High-yield traded with a strong tone yesterday, fueled by another day of inflows to the asset class pushing the yield to worst and spread on the Bank of America High Yield Index tighter by 4bps and 6bps, respectively, to 8.04% and +634bps.  Inflows Wednesday totaled $590 million moving the weekly tracking figure to a slight positive. This morning we’re opening with a better tone again as buyers continue to put money to work, but the focus remains on high quality names and higher beta names continue to lag the move higher. As we enter the last month of the year most of the focus remains on what the Fed will do with rates this month, with the accepted expectation being for a slow and gradual rise going into 2016. Tomorrow’s payroll data will be watched closely by all market participants. For the time being the move in high yield appears to be to the upside. Two deals priced yesterday for  $1.3 billion in proceeds.

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.