So far this quarter, leveraged loan issuances hit $82 billion, or 72% of the first quarter’s supply, compared to the $46 billion in junk bonds, or about 50% of new issues in the first quarter, according to S&P Capital IQ data. Furthermore, loan funds attracted $1.3 billion in inflows so far in the second quarter, whereas high-yield mutual funds and ETFs lost $2.8 billion.
Nevertheless, “junk” bonds are still winning on the yields front, providing 7.82%, compared to 6.81% for leveraged loans, according to Credit Suisse.
In the meantime, investors interested in loan ETFs may take a look at the PowerShares Senior Loan Fund (NYSEArca: BKLN) and the iShares Floting Rate Note (NYSEArca: FLOT).
For more information on high-yield debt, visit our high-yield bonds category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.