HEI: Meanwhile, in junk exodus news…

THE HEISENBERG writes:

The following short bit will come as no surprise to regular readers, and as such, I hesitated to give it separate treatment. But, I decided to go ahead with it as a kind of “quick hitter,” mostly because it serves as a useful addendum to last week’s piece documenting outflows from junk funds amid the worst stretch for US equities since the March panic.

As a quick reminder, Lipper data showed investors pulled more than $2.5 billion from high yield funds in the week through October 28, while EPFR’s data showed outflows accelerating to $3.4 billion over the same period.

Read more: Stocks’ Worst Week Since March Spills Over Into Junk Those outflows came against a backdrop that saw junk spreads balloon nearly 50bps wider on the week. Well, for those wondering what the granular picture looked like for popular high yield products, the answer is that HYG bled some $3.7 billion from Monday through Friday.

It was the single worst weekly outflow since junk cracked during the initial stages of the pandemic. It goes without saying (or at least it should) that oil’s trials and tribulations aren’t helping matters. And it’s not just HYG. JNK, another popular junk product, lost in excess…