High Yield: The Comeback Kid

March 2, 2016

2 minute read

High Yield: The Comeback Kid

How swift will this recovery be? The US high-yield market has suffered nine peak-to-trough losses greater than 5% in the last 17 years. On average, investors recovered their losses in only four months—and sometimes as few as two. Following the longest and largest drawdown, which lasted 19 months and reached –35%, investors who stayed in the high-yield market earned back 55% in just eight months.

The views expressed herein do not constitute research, investment advice or trade recommendations and do not necessarily represent the views of all AB portfolio-management teams.

Director—High Yield

Gershon M. Distenfeld is Senior Vice President and Director of High Yield, responsible for overseeing the investment strategy and management of all investment-grade and high-yield corporate bond portfolios, from buy-and-hold investment-grade corporate portfolios to regional and global high-yield portfolios. He co-manages the award-winning High Income Fund, named “Best Fund over 10 Years” by Lipper from 2012 to 2015, and the award-winning Global High Yield and American Income portfolios, two Luxembourg-domiciled funds designed for non-US investors. Distenfeld also designed and is one of the lead portfolio managers of the Multi-Sector Credit Strategy. He has authored a number of published papers and blogs, including “High Yield Won’t Bubble Over” (January 2013), one of the firm’s most-read blogs. Distenfeld joined AB in 1998 as a fixed-income business analyst, and served as a high-yield trader (1999–2002) and high-yield portfolio manager (2002–2006) before being named to his current role in 2006. He began his career as an operations analyst supporting Emerging Markets Debt at Lehman Brothers. Distenfeld holds a BS in finance from the Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University and is a CFA charterholder. Location: New York