Bear Stearns High Yield Index up for fourth week, rises 0.58%, now 4.24% better year to date

New York, Aug. 27 - The Bear Stearns High Yield Index continued upwards, adding 0.58% in the week to Aug. 26 and extending its latest winning run to four weeks.

For 11 of the past 12 weeks, the index has shown positive total returns and is now up 4.24% year to date.

The latest rise comes after a gain of 0.56% the week before.

"There's no supply - that helped the secondary market," said Bear Stearns analyst Mike Taylor, commenting on the latest week's performance.

In the period covered by the figures, there was just one new deal, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd.'s $95 million add-on sale of senior notes due 2012, according to Prospect News records.

All 11 of the industry sectors making up the Bear Stearns index showed positive returns in the latest week.

The utility sector led the way higher, gaining 1.20% in the seven days and boosting its year-to-date return to 4.95%.

Basic materials remains in the number one position for the year so far with a 7.22% gain after adding 0.57% in the week just completed.

A perpetual laggard, the transportation sector was again the weakest performer but did manage a positive return of 0.13% for the week. It is now down 16.26% since Jan. 1, in last place by far.

Utilities' pipeline component was the strongest gainer among the sub-sectors making up the broader industry groups with a 1.62% gain in the week. Pipelines are now up 5.82% year to date.

Textile and apparel held on to the number one spot on a year-so-far basis, pushing up to 20.87% after gaining 0.62% in the most recent seven days.

Airlines was yet again the biggest loser, dropping 1.08%, and remains firmly in last place year to date with a 35.98% loss.

The index's yield to worst ended the week at 7.78%, down 10 basis points from 7.88% a week earlier. The yield-to-worst spread narrowed 13 basis points to 440 basis points from 453 basis points.

The index ended the week to Aug. 26 with a market value of $525.22 billion in 1,702 issues, both up from $515.73 billion in 1,687 issues a week earlier.

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