U.S. High-Yield Credit Spread
Best simple market-stress series for when discretionary luxury demand and speculative inventory carrying tend to tighten.
2.9%
Trend YoY growth is -0.2%, slowing by 1.2 pp/year over the last 6M. Deviations have remained below trend for 8 consecutive periods. Latest: -1.5%, 1.3 pp below trend, a 4.3σ deviation.
Level
YoY Change
y = 0.4% − 1.2 pp/yr · t
Deviation from trend
Forecast
Projected value by forecast vintage (%)
Projected value (%)
| Forecast made in | Sep '25 | Oct '25 | Nov '25 | Dec '25 | Jan '26 | Feb '26 | Mar '26 | Apr '26 | May '26 | Jun '26 | Jul '26 | Aug '26 | Sep '26 | Oct '26 | Nov '26 | Dec '26 | Jan '27 | Feb '27 | Mar '27 | Apr '27 | May '27 | MAPE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep '25 | 2.8 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 0.3 | -0.1 | -0.3 | -0.6 | -0.7 | -1.0 | -1.3 | -1.5 | -1.5 | -1.6 | -2.2 | -4.4 | 777% |
| Oct '25 | 2.9 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 3.3 | 2.6 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 276% | |
| Nov '25 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 3.2 | 3.9 | 4.4 | 3.9 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 4.8 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 136% | ||
| Dec '25 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 3.3 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 4.2 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.9 | 5.3 | 5.6 | 5.3 | 6.8 | 167% | |||
| Jan '26 | 2.9 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 5.0 | 5.3 | 5.0 | 6.3 | 147% | ||||
| Feb '26 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 4.3 | 3.8 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 4.7 | 4.4 | 5.4 | 181% | |||||
| Mar '26 | 3.3 | 4.0 | 3.4 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.8 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 107% | ||||||
| Apr '26 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 1.6 | ||||||||
| May '26 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 1.6 |
YoY change forecast
| Forecast made in | Sep '25 | Oct '25 | Nov '25 | Dec '25 | Jan '26 | Feb '26 | Mar '26 | Apr '26 | May '26 | Jun '26 | Jul '26 | Aug '26 | Sep '26 | Oct '26 | Nov '26 | Dec '26 | Jan '27 | Feb '27 | Mar '27 | Apr '27 | May '27 | MAPE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep '25 | -0.3% | -0.8% | -1.0% | -1.2% | -1.5% | -1.7% | -2.0% | -2.2% | -2.4% | -2.7% | -2.9% | -3.2% | -3.4% | -3.6% | -3.9% | -4.1% | -4.4% | -4.6% | -4.8% | -5.1% | -5.3% | 777% |
| Oct '25 | +0.1% | -0.4% | -0.4% | -0.5% | -0.6% | -0.6% | -0.7% | -0.7% | -0.8% | -0.9% | -0.9% | -1.0% | -1.1% | -1.1% | -1.2% | -1.3% | -1.3% | -1.4% | -1.4% | -1.5% | 276% | |
| Nov '25 | +0.2% | +0.1% | +0.2% | +0.3% | +0.4% | +0.5% | +0.6% | +0.7% | +0.8% | +0.8% | +0.9% | +1.0% | +1.1% | +1.2% | +1.3% | +1.4% | +1.5% | +1.6% | +1.7% | 136% | ||
| Dec '25 | -0.1% | +0.3% | +0.5% | +0.6% | +0.7% | +0.9% | +1.0% | +1.2% | +1.3% | +1.4% | +1.6% | +1.7% | +1.9% | +2.0% | +2.2% | +2.3% | +2.4% | +2.6% | 167% | |||
| Jan '26 | +0.2% | +0.3% | +0.4% | +0.6% | +0.7% | +0.8% | +1.0% | +1.1% | +1.2% | +1.3% | +1.5% | +1.6% | +1.7% | +1.9% | +2.0% | +2.1% | +2.2% | 147% | ||||
| Feb '26 | +0.3% | +0.3% | +0.4% | +0.5% | +0.6% | +0.7% | +0.8% | +0.8% | +0.9% | +1.0% | +1.1% | +1.2% | +1.3% | +1.4% | +1.5% | +1.5% | 181% | |||||
| Mar '26 | -0.2% | +0.1% | +0.1% | +0.0% | +0.0% | +0.0% | +0.0% | +0.0% | +0.0% | +0.0% | -0.1% | -0.1% | -0.1% | -0.1% | -0.1% | 107% | ||||||
| Apr '26 | -1.5% | -0.3% | -0.4% | -0.5% | -0.6% | -0.7% | -0.8% | -0.9% | -1.0% | -1.1% | -1.2% | -1.3% | -1.4% | -1.5% | ||||||||
| May '26 | -0.3% | -0.4% | -0.5% | -0.6% | -0.7% | -0.8% | -0.9% | -1.0% | -1.1% | -1.2% | -1.3% | -1.4% | -1.5% |
Forecasts use ordinary least-squares linear regression fitted to the YoY change series over a rolling 6M window. Each row shows a vintage — the forecast as it would have appeared at that point in time. Projected values apply the forecasted YoY change to the prior year's level, chaining forward where actuals are unavailable. MAPE measures forecast accuracy against realized values. These are mechanical trend extrapolations, not economic models.