Preferreds and High Yield Bonds Surge

Bespoke Investment Group

Team

January 14, 2010

The preferred stock and high yield bond markets have done extremely well lately.  As shown in the two charts below, PFF (preferred ETF) and HYG (high yield bond ETF) have both been surging since the start of December.

Since the Lehman Brothers collapse on September 15th, 2008, PFF is actually up 12.91%, while HYG is down just 2.89%.  With preferreds and high yield bonds now at or near pre-Lehman levels, how long will it take for common stocks to get there as well?  As shown below, the S&P 500 is still 8.7% below the 1,251 level it closed at on 9/12/08. 

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