The high-yield rally stalled this week amid terrorist attacks in Brussels and a reversal in commodity pricing, with oil prices recording their first weekly decline since mid-February as US stockpiles grew more than expected. The yield and spread on the Bank of America High-Yield Index (BAML) widened for the first time in the past six weeks closing at 8.41% and +693bps, 16bps and 14bps wider, respectively. Despite the down move, the overall high-yield market tone remained resilient with another week of strong inflows and the busiest week of the year for new issuance.

High-yield funds reported another strong week of inflows for the week ending March 23^rd totaling $2.2 billion, the sixth consecutive inflow totaling $13.4 billion over the span. For the year, the overall inflow total now stands at $8.2 billion. Eight deals for $5.75 billion priced this week, making it the busiest week of issuance since mid-September as issuers took advantage of high cash levels due to recent inflows to tap a welcoming market. All eight deals this week were to refinance or repay existing debt. 22 deals have priced month to date for $13.965 billion. 47 deals for $28.82 billion have priced year to date, a 66% slowdown from last year’s pace through the end of March.

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.