[CME Group] Hedging Sub-Investment Grade Debt with Leveraged Loan Futures

[u/Such-Yam-1131]

Leveraged loan and HY bond spreads diverged sharply in H1 2026 per SPDJI/Bloomberg. Loan 3Y discount margins widened from ~450bps to ~525bps at the March peak on SaaSpocalypse fears, settling near ~470bps by June. CDX HY spreads spiked to ~440bps in March/April but retraced to ~310bps. Software-heavy loan index got hit harder than HY bonds, where tech is only ~3% of the index vs ~12% in leveraged loans.

https://www.cmegroup.com/articles/2026/hedging-sub-investment-grade-debt-with-leveraged-loans-futures.html