Bond Ratings Jump

In early 2020, COVID-19 lockdowns slowed the economy and resulted in a record dollar amount of debt being downgraded. By the end of the year, the default rate on corporate bond reached 6.8 percent. Now, with the economy recovering, corporations are becoming healthy and a record $127.9 billion worth of debt was upgraded in May 2021. In early June, a record $340 billion had been upgraded over the previous 10 weeks. And in even better news, Moody's projects the default rate will fall percent to 1.7 percent by December.