Last month’s sell-off signaled a shift in investors’ willingness to hold volatile investments, including U.S. junk bond funs, according to a Reuters report. Junk bond funds lost $11 million in the week ending March 7, after bleeding $23 million the week prior, according to data from AMG Data Services. Many blame the Feb. 27 drop in Chinese markets for triggering a global sell-off. While the true cause cannot be identified for certain, experts have suggested that the episode reminded investors of the perils of the markets, most importantly of downside of higher risk. Despite the sell-off junk bond fund returns are positive, with 0.17% gains for March to date and 2.657% for a year. According to data from Merrill Lynch, this makes them the top-performing bond group. The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.
