The high-yield market was better Wednesday, spurred on by the gradual rate hike speech from Yeller Tuesday afternoon, although the market tone remained cautious overall as the recent rally shows signs of fatigue amid weakening commodity prices. The yield and spread on the Bank of America High-Yield Index bounced back after losing ground the first two days of the week closing 13bps/11bps tighter on the day at 8.40% and +703bps, respectively, back to basically unchanged for the week. Western Digital priced the day’s only deal totaling $5.225 billion across two tranches of debt. Wednesday’s retail fund flows were +$393 million, however the market is set to report its first weekly outflow in the past six weeks.  Over the prior six week span, the asset class has recorded over $13 billion in inflows. We’re opening flat and quiet this morning to close out March and Q1.

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.