Bear Stearns High Yield Index up again with 0.61% gain in week, eighth positive week

New York, Oct. 10 - The Bear Stearns High Yield Index gained 0.61% in the week to Oct. 9, taking the recent run of upward moves to eight consecutive weeks.

The measure is now up 22.64% since Jan. 1.

Gains during the previous seven weeks have ranged from 0.27% to 1.87%.

For a second consecutive week, all 11 industry sectors making up the index showed positive returns.

The utility sector led the gains with a 1.66% return, taking its year-to-date performance to 46.11%, still the best of any of the 11 sectors.

The smallest gain was in basic materials which added 0.20% in the week for a return so far this year of 11.65%.

On a year-to-date basis, consumer non-cyclicals remains in last place although it is still 11.37% higher after adding 0.26% in the week to Oct. 9.

Among the narrow sub-sectors making up the broader industry groups, the integrated component of utilities was the top performer, gaining 2.24% for a year-to-date return of 46.24%.

However long distance remains in first place for the year so far with a 73.89% return, having moved up 1.11% in the seven days just gone.

The weakest sub-sector in the week was supermarkets and distributors, which slipped 0.35%, cutting its return since Jan. 1 to 10.63%.

With the bottom placed sub-sector, textile and apparel, moving up 0.43% in the week, pushing its year-to-date return back into positive territory at 0.15%, all the sub-sectors are now in the black for 2003.

The index ended the week with a market value of $478.83 billion in 1,641 issues, both up from $474.31 billion in 1,634 issues the week before.

The index's yield to worst ended the week at 8.57%, down 11 basis points from 8.68% the week before, while the yield to worst spread dropped 33 basis points to 548 basis points from 581 basis points.

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