, Columnist
Junk-Bond Market Heads Toward Deep Freeze
High-yield debt was all the rage. And then interest rates started to rise.
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The wheels of the $1.3 trillion U.S. junk-bond market are slowly grinding to a halt.
Just a few years ago, the market was as wide open as it had ever been, allowing borrowers to raise money for anything and everything. But times have changed. Even before this month's U.S. presidential election, companies had already been selling the debt at the slowest pace since 2009, and the surprising outcome has apparently chilled issuance even more.