Editing High-yield debt (section)

==U.S. market and indices==
U.S. high-yield bonds outstanding as of the first quarter of 2022 are estimated to be about $1.8 trillion, comprising about 16% of the U.S. corporate bond market, which totals $10.7 trillion. New issuances amounted to $435 billion (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=435000000000|start_year=2020}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) in 2020.<ref name="economist"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Statistics |url=https://www.sifma.org/resources/archive/research/statistics/ |website=SIFMA Research |access-date=2 July 2021}}</ref>

Indices for the high-yield market include:
* ICE Bank of America US High Yield Total Return Index,<ref>{{cite web |title=ICE BofA US High Yield Total Return Index |date=31 August 1986 |url=https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/BAMLHYH0A0HYM2TRIV |publisher=Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis}}</ref>
* Bloomberg Barclays US Corporate High Yield Total Return Index,<ref>{{cite web |title=Bloomberg Barclays US Corporate High Yield Total Return Index |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/LF98TRUU:IND |website=Bloomberg |access-date=3 July 2021}}</ref> 
* S&P U.S. Issued High Yield Corporate Bond Index,<ref>{{cite web |title=S&P U.S. High Yield Corporate Bond Index |url=https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/indices/fixed-income/sp-us-high-yield-corporate-bond-index/#overview |website=Standard and Poors |access-date=3 July 2021}},</ref> and 
* FTSE US High-Yield Market Index.<ref>{{cite web |title=FTSE US High-Yield Market Index |url=https://www.yieldbook.com/m/indices/single.shtml?ticker=USHYMI |website=Yield Book |publisher=FTSE Russell |access-date=3 July 2021}}</ref>

Some investors, preferring to dedicate themselves to higher-rated and less-risky investments, use an index that only includes BB-rated and B-rated securities. Other investors focus on the lowest quality debt rated CCC or [[distressed securities]], commonly defined as those yielding 1,000 [[basis point]]s over equivalent government bonds.<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 August 2012 |title=S&P: U.S. distress ratio declines below its 1-yr average |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/markets/us/sp-us-distress-ratio-declines-below-its-1-yr-average-idUSWNA4392/ |access-date=16 August 2024 |work=Reuters}}</ref>