Corporate Bond Defaults Hit Highest Rate Since Financial Crisis

Corporate bond defaults have just crossed an ominous milestone.
Fully 100 companies have defaulted on debt, 50 percent more than for the same period in 2015 and the highest level since 2009, according to S&P Global Ratings. Low oil and commodity prices, along with financial market volatility in the United States and abroad, have been the primary problems for the bond market this year. While the actual ratio of distressed issues is on the decline, the level of defaults has climbed.
While the defaults have been weighted heavily to the energy sector, analysts at S&P said there’s no guarantee things will stay that way.
‘Over the past year, we have seen a strong increase in both the number and percentage of defaults in the energy and natural resources sector,’ the agency said in a note. ‘So far, there has been little spillover effect into other sectors, but we are not ruling this out in the coming quarters.’

This post was published at David Stockmans Contra Corner By Jeff Cox, CNBC ‘ July 15, 2016.