Junk-Bond Anxiety Grows as Traders Buy Up Bearish Puts
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U.S. options traders are bracing for more losses in junk bonds.
Demand for protection against declines has pushed the number of outstanding puts on the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond exchange-traded fund to five for each call, up from a ratio of 1.6 at the start of 2014, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The eight contracts on the fund with the highest ownership are all bearish.