Traders Ready to Put War Behind Them Dial Up Risk
Traders work on the floor of the American Stock Exchange at the New York Stock Exchange on April 17.
Photographer: Michael Nagle/BloombergCredit investors are loading up on riskier debt, betting that Iran and the US can extend their truce, and leaving behind havens they’ve favored since the war broke out in late February.
In the first half of April, investors bought a net $500 million of bonds in the lowest tier of investment grade, and sold $7.3 billion of the higher tiers, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. That helped BBB bonds perform comparatively better than higher-rated notes, pushing the gap between spreads for BBB and A corporates to the tightest since before the war.