Matthew Fuller, a director at S&P Global Market Intelligence Leveraged Commentary & Data, argued that a rally in high-yield debt was supported by healthier economic news, strong inflows to the investment style and a dearth of new issuance.
[related_stories]Looking at junk bond ETF flows so far this month, the SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (NYSEArca: JNK) attracted $1.5 billion in net inflows and iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (NYSEArca: HYG) brought in $814.7 million in inflows, according to ETF.com. JNK has a 4.20 year duration and a 7.14% 30-day SEC yield. HYG has a 3.95 year duration and a 7.07% 30-day SEC yield.
The speculative-grade bond ETFs experienced greater attention as riskier debt securities rallied. Over the past month, HYG rose 6.9% and JNK increased 7.5%.
High-yield municipal bond ETFs, including the Market Vectors High Yield Municipal Index ETF (NYSEArca: HYD) and SPDR Nuveen S&P High Yield Municipal Bond ETF (NYSEArca: HYMB), were relatively flat for the month. Nevertheless, HYD still saw $62.0 million in inflows and HYMB added $5.7 million so far this month. HYD has a 9.67 year duration and a 4.27% 30-day SEC yield. HYMB has a 7.83 year duration and a 3.98% 30-day SEC yield.