Insight

Barrow Hanley Credit Partners Monthly Market Update | Inflation, Opportunity, and Market Momentum

In this post:

6.18.2026
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Executive Summary

  • Equities rallied on geopolitical optimism, but a closed Strait of Hormuz kept inflation pressure elevated.
  • Credit advanced with a quality divergence: IG and HY gained while CCCs lagged.
  • Demand for floating-rate CLO paper stayed strong, and we reset CLO 3 to cut liability costs.

Market Recap

Risk assets performed well in May as the US-Iran war progressed towards a potential ending. Trumps' visit to China was viewed as a positive influence on US-China relations. Reports of a Memorandum of Understanding helped equity markets push to new highs, while credit spreads continued to narrow. S&P 500 Index gained +5.26%, while small caps and the Russell 2000 Index gained +4.37%.

10-year treasury rates increased 7bps to 4.44% after spiking to an intramonth high of 4.67%, bringing treasury returns to just +0.01%. Even though there is a MOU and potential end of the war in sight, the Straight of Hormuz remains closed pressuring the inflation narrative higher. Inflation data from the World Bank across 20 countries since WWII saw a 3%+ rise in the five-year inflation rate, with price stability only restored in 4% of cases. The mechanism is adaptive expectations and policy repetition. The same policy makers who managed the first shock tend to repeat the same policies with an erosion of deviancy standards. The Fed cutting rates after inflation has consistently run above target levels and unemployment at 4% in an anticipation of labor market deterioration that never materialized. Consumer inflation expectations are starting to diverge from 5-year-5-year inflation swap breakevens and no longer forecast a return to the 2% Fed's target.

Front-end rate expectations continued to climb in the month, seeing year end expectations up 16bps throughout the month. This dynamic helped loans gain 0.48% as they use the forward curve in their yield calculations. Credit spreads helped fixed income assets perform well during the month. Investment grade spreads tightened by 8 bps helping give IG a +0.71% monthly gain. High Yield was up by 0.49%, helped by an 11bp spread compression.

Within HYs +0.49% return for the month, Single-Bs outperformed, up +0.69%. BBs were up +0.53%, while CCCs underperformed losing -0.48%. Spreads ended 11bps tighter at 291bps, while Yields were 1bp tighter ending at 7.01%. There was a notable divergence in quality that is worth highlighting. BB and Single-B spreads tightened by 13bps to 182bps and 14bps to 318bps respectively. Meanwhile, CCC spreads increased 27bps. Therefore, with the underlying treasury moves, BB yields declined by 4bps to 5.93%, Single-B yields were lower by 3bps to 7.25%, while CCC yields were higher by 39bps to 13.53%. Issuance was active with $27bn in new paper pricing in the month. Majority of the volume continues to be refinancings with only $7bn in net new issuance. This follows April, which was a stellar month with $44bn in gross and $27bn in net new issuance. Flows for HY were +$562mm after a very strong April that saw +5.8bn. This still does not offset the first quarter with year-to-date flows still at a $3.9bn outflow.

Loans

Loans gained 0.48% during the month led by Single-Bs up +0.55%, while CCCs held their own gaining +0.54% and BBs slightly lagged the index at +0.37%. Spreads were down 1bp to 487bps while yields were higher due to forward rate expectations mentioned above. Yields increased 17bps to 8.73%. BB yields were higher by 21bps, Single-B yields were +17bps and CCC yields were +35bps. The average price of the index declined 5 cents to 94.42, while the percent of the index above par increased marginally to 41.2%. Aerospace and Consumer Durables led the pack, gaining +1.17% and 1.12% respectively, while manufacturing was the sole sector posting a negative return of -0.10%. Issuance was strong in May with gross up $102bn, while net was $57.9bn. During the month the market priced the largest single tranche ever, Warner Brothers Discovery's $13bn TL B, accounting for almost a quarter of the month's issuance. Flows were a positive $900mm. Fundamentals have remained constructive within the loan asset class for 1Q26. Almost half of all loan issuers have reported results with a weighted average of +7% EBITDA growth. Notable outliers versus historic actuals included Energy which grew at double digit rates, in step with the fallout from the war in Iran, and Utilities, which is experiencing price growth from continued demand for power from AI investments in data centers. No subsectors experienced a material fall off in EBITDA growth, for those entities reporting results at this time.

CLOs

May CLO issuance was +$49bn gross or $15.8bn net, excluding refinancings and resets. CLO ETFs saw +$1.6bn inflows during the month and comprise a larger AUM level than Loan ETFs. Another new IG CLO ETF launched just after May, which continues to capitalize on the demand for high-rated floating rate CLO liabilities which have historically paid competitive yields for the risk. CLO ETFs now make hold $43.5bn in AUM while Loan ETFs are less than half that at $18.4bn in AUM. AAA CLO Liability spreads tightened 5bps to ~118bps. We were able to take advantage of the market and reset CLO 3, taking 49bps of spread out of the weighted average cost of liabilities. We were also able to upsize the deal by $50mm.

Returns As Of May 31, 2026

BH Strategy Returns Month QTD 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10 Year 20 Year Since Inception
High Yield Composite Gross0.43%2.53%8.27%10.39%5.73%6.82%6.83%6.66%
High Yield Composite Net0.40%2.46%7.76%9.87%5.23%6.31%6.33%6.15%
Bank Loan Composite Gross0.38%1.80%6.99%9.66%7.31%----6.52%
Bank Loan Composite Net0.39%1.76%6.51%9.14%6.79%----6.00%
Asset Class Month QTD YTD Index
HY Return0.49%2.20%1.64%ICE BAML HY Index
HY BB Return0.53%2.00%1.62%ICE BAML BB HY Index
HY B Return0.69%2.52%2.13%ICE BAML B HY Index
HY CCC Return-0.48%2.27%0.01%ICE BAML CCC HY Index
Leveraged Loan Return0.48%1.71%1.23%S&P UBS Leveraged Loan Index
LL BB Return0.37%1.37%2.02%S&P UBS Leveraged Loan BB Index
LL B Return0.55%1.88%1.46%S&P UBS Leveraged Loan B Index
LL CCC Return0.54%0.80%-3.43%S&P UBS Leveraged Loan CCC Index
HYG0.44%1.96%1.60%Ishares Iboxx High Yield
BKLN-0.04%1.30%0.01%Invesco Senior Loan ETF
S&P 500 Return5.26%16.31%11.27%S&P 500
Russell 2000 Return4.37%17.11%18.15%Russell 2000 Index
10yr Beg4.37%4.32%4.17%10yr Treasury
10yr End4.44%4.44%4.44%10yr Treasury
10yr Return0.01%-0.20%-0.30%10yr Treasury
Beg Mo Beg QTD Beg Year End of Month
HY YTW7.02%7.44%6.62%7.01%
HY BB YTW5.97%6.25%5.55%5.93%
HY B YTW7.28%7.77%6.78%7.25%
HY CCC YTW13.14%13.95%12.57%13.53%
HY STW302 bps349 bps296 bps291 bps
HY BB STW195 bps229 bps186 bps182 bps
HY B STW332 bps386 bps315 bps318 bps
HY CCC STW918 bps1004 bps892 bps945 bps
LL YT3Y8.56%8.70%7.86%8.73%
LL BB YT3Y6.21%6.31%5.79%6.42%
LL B YT3Y8.18%8.34%7.42%8.35%
LL CCC YT3Y20.58%20.41%17.95%20.93%
LL ST3Y488 bps514 bps455 bps487 bps
LL BB ST3Y253 bps275 bps247 bps256 bps
LL B ST3Y451 bps477 bps410 bps449 bps
LL CCC ST3Y1691 bps1689 bps1471 bps1705 bps
Source: Barrow Hanley. Returns represent an asset-weighted composite of all Bank Loan Fixed Income portfolios or High Yield Fixed Income portfolios. Index returns are shown before transaction costs, management fees, and other expenses. Performance is expressed in U.S. currency. Net-of-fee returns are calculated using a model fee. The model fee is based on a $100 million portfolio using our standard fee schedule. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Inception Date for Bank Loans is June 1, 2018. Inception Date for High Yield is January 1, 2005.

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General Disclosures:

All opinions included in this report constitute Barrow Hanley's (BH) judgment as of the time of issuance of this report and are subject to change without notice. This report was prepared by Barrow Hanley with information it believes to be reliable. This report is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be an offer, solicitation, or recommendation with respect to the purchase or sale of any security, nor a recommendation of services supplied by any money management organization. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Barrow Hanley is a value-oriented investment manager, providing services to institutional clients.
Barrow Hanley Credit Partners® is a legally assumed name for the Alternative Credit investment team and investment strategies of Barrow Hanley Global Investors®, including Bank Loan Fixed Income, Collateralized Loan Obligations, and High Yield Fixed Income.

These investment summaries are provided for informational purposes only and should not be viewed as representative of all investments by the firm. This report includes certain "forward-looking statements" including, but not limited to, BH's plans, projections, objectives, expectations, and intentions and other statements contained herein that are not historical facts as well as statements identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "plans", "believes", "seeks", "estimates", "projects", or words of similar meaning. Such statements and opinions contained are based on BH's current beliefs or expectations and are subject to significant uncertainties and changes in circumstances, many beyond BH's control. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations due to changes in global, political, economic, business, competitive, market, and regulatory factors. Additional information regarding the strategy is available upon request.


Index Disclosures:

Source: Bloomberg Index Services Limited. BLOOMBERG® is a trademark and service mark of Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates (collectively "Bloomberg"). Bloomberg or Bloomberg's licensors own all proprietary rights in the Bloomberg Indices. Neither Bloomberg nor Bloomberg's licensors approves or endorses this material, or guarantees the accuracy or completeness of any information herein, or makes any warranty, express or implied, as to the results to be obtained therefrom and, to the maximum extent allowed by law, neither shall have any liability or responsibility for injury or damages arising in connection therewith.
Merrill Lynch index data referenced herein is the property of ICE Data Indices, LLC, its affiliates ("ICE Data") and/or its Third Party Suppliers and has been licensed for use by Barrow Hanley Global Investors. ICE Data and its Third Party Suppliers accept no liability in connection with its use.


Standard and Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC ("S&P"); Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC, and these trademarks have been licensed for use by S&P and Dow Jones Indices LLC and S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC. The presentation may contain confidential information and unauthorized use, disclosure, copying, dissemination or redistribution is strictly prohibited. This is a presentation of Barrow Hanley. S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC is not responsible for the formatting or configuration of this material or for any inaccuracy in Barrow Hanley's presentation thereof.
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www.barrowhanley.com

6.18.2026
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Market Recap

Risk assets performed well in May as the US-Iran war progressed towards a potential ending. Trumps' visit to China was viewed as a positive influence on US-China relations. Reports of a Memorandum of Understanding helped equity markets push to new highs, while credit spreads continued to narrow. S&P 500 Index gained +5.26%, while small caps and the Russell 2000 Index gained +4.37%.

10-year treasury rates increased 7bps to 4.44% after spiking to an intramonth high of 4.67%, bringing treasury returns to just +0.01%. Even though there is a MOU and potential end of the war in sight, the Straight of Hormuz remains closed pressuring the inflation narrative higher. Inflation data from the World Bank across 20 countries since WWII saw a 3%+ rise in the five-year inflation rate, with price stability only restored in 4% of cases. The mechanism is adaptive expectations and policy repetition. The same policy makers who managed the first shock tend to repeat the same policies with an erosion of deviancy standards. The Fed cutting rates after inflation has consistently run above target levels and unemployment at 4% in an anticipation of labor market deterioration that never materialized. Consumer inflation expectations are starting to diverge from 5-year-5-year inflation swap breakevens and no longer forecast a return to the 2% Fed's target.

Front-end rate expectations continued to climb in the month, seeing year end expectations up 16bps throughout the month. This dynamic helped loans gain 0.48% as they use the forward curve in their yield calculations. Credit spreads helped fixed income assets perform well during the month. Investment grade spreads tightened by 8 bps helping give IG a +0.71% monthly gain. High Yield was up by 0.49%, helped by an 11bp spread compression.

Within HYs +0.49% return for the month, Single-Bs outperformed, up +0.69%. BBs were up +0.53%, while CCCs underperformed losing -0.48%. Spreads ended 11bps tighter at 291bps, while Yields were 1bp tighter ending at 7.01%. There was a notable divergence in quality that is worth highlighting. BB and Single-B spreads tightened by 13bps to 182bps and 14bps to 318bps respectively. Meanwhile, CCC spreads increased 27bps. Therefore, with the underlying treasury moves, BB yields declined by 4bps to 5.93%, Single-B yields were lower by 3bps to 7.25%, while CCC yields were higher by 39bps to 13.53%. Issuance was active with $27bn in new paper pricing in the month. Majority of the volume continues to be refinancings with only $7bn in net new issuance. This follows April, which was a stellar month with $44bn in gross and $27bn in net new issuance. Flows for HY were +$562mm after a very strong April that saw +5.8bn. This still does not offset the first quarter with year-to-date flows still at a $3.9bn outflow.

Loans

Loans gained 0.48% during the month led by Single-Bs up +0.55%, while CCCs held their own gaining +0.54% and BBs slightly lagged the index at +0.37%. Spreads were down 1bp to 487bps while yields were higher due to forward rate expectations mentioned above. Yields increased 17bps to 8.73%. BB yields were higher by 21bps, Single-B yields were +17bps and CCC yields were +35bps. The average price of the index declined 5 cents to 94.42, while the percent of the index above par increased marginally to 41.2%. Aerospace and Consumer Durables led the pack, gaining +1.17% and 1.12% respectively, while manufacturing was the sole sector posting a negative return of -0.10%. Issuance was strong in May with gross up $102bn, while net was $57.9bn. During the month the market priced the largest single tranche ever, Warner Brothers Discovery's $13bn TL B, accounting for almost a quarter of the month's issuance. Flows were a positive $900mm. Fundamentals have remained constructive within the loan asset class for 1Q26. Almost half of all loan issuers have reported results with a weighted average of +7% EBITDA growth. Notable outliers versus historic actuals included Energy which grew at double digit rates, in step with the fallout from the war in Iran, and Utilities, which is experiencing price growth from continued demand for power from AI investments in data centers. No subsectors experienced a material fall off in EBITDA growth, for those entities reporting results at this time.

CLOs

May CLO issuance was +$49bn gross or $15.8bn net, excluding refinancings and resets. CLO ETFs saw +$1.6bn inflows during the month and comprise a larger AUM level than Loan ETFs. Another new IG CLO ETF launched just after May, which continues to capitalize on the demand for high-rated floating rate CLO liabilities which have historically paid competitive yields for the risk. CLO ETFs now make hold $43.5bn in AUM while Loan ETFs are less than half that at $18.4bn in AUM. AAA CLO Liability spreads tightened 5bps to ~118bps. We were able to take advantage of the market and reset CLO 3, taking 49bps of spread out of the weighted average cost of liabilities. We were also able to upsize the deal by $50mm.

Returns As Of May 31, 2026

BH Strategy Returns Month QTD 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10 Year 20 Year Since Inception
High Yield Composite Gross0.43%2.53%8.27%10.39%5.73%6.82%6.83%6.66%
High Yield Composite Net0.40%2.46%7.76%9.87%5.23%6.31%6.33%6.15%
Bank Loan Composite Gross0.38%1.80%6.99%9.66%7.31%----6.52%
Bank Loan Composite Net0.39%1.76%6.51%9.14%6.79%----6.00%
Asset Class Month QTD YTD Index
HY Return0.49%2.20%1.64%ICE BAML HY Index
HY BB Return0.53%2.00%1.62%ICE BAML BB HY Index
HY B Return0.69%2.52%2.13%ICE BAML B HY Index
HY CCC Return-0.48%2.27%0.01%ICE BAML CCC HY Index
Leveraged Loan Return0.48%1.71%1.23%S&P UBS Leveraged Loan Index
LL BB Return0.37%1.37%2.02%S&P UBS Leveraged Loan BB Index
LL B Return0.55%1.88%1.46%S&P UBS Leveraged Loan B Index
LL CCC Return0.54%0.80%-3.43%S&P UBS Leveraged Loan CCC Index
HYG0.44%1.96%1.60%Ishares Iboxx High Yield
BKLN-0.04%1.30%0.01%Invesco Senior Loan ETF
S&P 500 Return5.26%16.31%11.27%S&P 500
Russell 2000 Return4.37%17.11%18.15%Russell 2000 Index
10yr Beg4.37%4.32%4.17%10yr Treasury
10yr End4.44%4.44%4.44%10yr Treasury
10yr Return0.01%-0.20%-0.30%10yr Treasury
Beg Mo Beg QTD Beg Year End of Month
HY YTW7.02%7.44%6.62%7.01%
HY BB YTW5.97%6.25%5.55%5.93%
HY B YTW7.28%7.77%6.78%7.25%
HY CCC YTW13.14%13.95%12.57%13.53%
HY STW302 bps349 bps296 bps291 bps
HY BB STW195 bps229 bps186 bps182 bps
HY B STW332 bps386 bps315 bps318 bps
HY CCC STW918 bps1004 bps892 bps945 bps
LL YT3Y8.56%8.70%7.86%8.73%
LL BB YT3Y6.21%6.31%5.79%6.42%
LL B YT3Y8.18%8.34%7.42%8.35%
LL CCC YT3Y20.58%20.41%17.95%20.93%
LL ST3Y488 bps514 bps455 bps487 bps
LL BB ST3Y253 bps275 bps247 bps256 bps
LL B ST3Y451 bps477 bps410 bps449 bps
LL CCC ST3Y1691 bps1689 bps1471 bps1705 bps
Source: Barrow Hanley. Returns represent an asset-weighted composite of all Bank Loan Fixed Income portfolios or High Yield Fixed Income portfolios. Index returns are shown before transaction costs, management fees, and other expenses. Performance is expressed in U.S. currency. Net-of-fee returns are calculated using a model fee. The model fee is based on a $100 million portfolio using our standard fee schedule. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Inception Date for Bank Loans is June 1, 2018. Inception Date for High Yield is January 1, 2005.
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