Recession Panic Means $270 Billion of Bonds Now Trade Like Junk
- Traders brace for more fallen angels than rating agencies
- Economic toll of virus containment hurts retailers, airlines
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When it comes to the health of the corporate debt market, traders and rating agencies are once again miles apart.
Raters are eyeing possible downgrades to junk for about $100 billion of bonds from the weakest investment-grade rated firms -- well short of the $270 billion of high-grade securities that already trade at speculative-grade levels, according to Bloomberg Intelligence research.