U.S. Corporate Credit Risk Benchmark Falls to Five-Week Low

A benchmark indicator of corporate credit risk in the U.S. fell to a five-week low after a surge in China’s industrial output boosted optimism about global economic growth and regulators gave banks as much as eight years to meet new capital requirements.

Credit-default swaps on the Markit CDX North America Investment Grade Index, which investors use to hedge against losses on corporate debt or to speculate on creditworthiness, fell 0.2 basis point to a mid-price of 102.6 basis points as of 5:23 p.m. in New York, according to index administrator Markit Group Ltd. The cost of protecting debt issued by banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley eased.