Bear Stearns High Yield Index breaks winning run, loses 0.56% in week

New York, Sept. 20 - The Bear Stearns High Yield Index ended four straight weeks of gains, declining 0.56% in the week to Sept. 19 and pushing its year-to-date loss down to 5.78%.

The index had been up 0.60% the week before as four weeks of positive returns helped it rebound from a weekly low that saw its year-to-date return sink as low as negative 9.20% on Aug. 16.

Of the 11 industry sectors making up the index, seven declined in the most recent week.

Bottom of the 11 was technology which declined 8.18%, cutting its year-to-date return to negative 14.03%.

However the worst performer so far in 2002 continues to be telecommunications which gave up another 1.08% in the seven days to Sept. 19 and is now down 45.79% since Jan. 1.

In the other direction, the top performer in the most recent week was media, which gained 0.90% although it is still down 10.63% year to date.

For the year so far the top performer continues to be consumer cyclicals, up 8.29% after adding 0.08% in the most recent week.

By narrow sub-sector, the bottom performer was supermarkets and distributors, down 7.22% for a year-to-date return of negative 8.02% (technology is not sub-divided into sub-sectors).

Year-to-date long distance remains firmly in last place with a loss of 73.90% after shedding a further 1.51% in the week just completed.

Moving upwards, cellular was the top performer for the week, rising 4.02% although it is still 38.11% lower for 2002 so far.

On a year-to-date basis diversified programmers is the leader with a 0.30% gain in the most recent week taking its performance to 34.63%.

For the week, the index's yield to worst rose 2 basis points to 13.43% from 13.41% seven days earlier. The yield-to-worst spread widened 19 basis points, staying above 1,000 basis points at 1,039 basis points compared to 1,020 basis points the week before.

Overall the index ended with a market value of $311.358 billion in 1,430 issues, both down significantly from $316.037 billion in 1,448 issues a week earlier.

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