While October spooked investors, early November saw markets come storming back. Following J-Pow’s dovish comments on Thursday, US Treasury yields dropped sharply, posting their strongest performance since the SVB collapse in March, with a lower than expected Treasury funding announcement also bolstering sentiment. Whether we see a rally into the year-end is moot, but immediate fears have gone and the spectre of 5% UST 10-year yields appears vanquished.

Earlier this week, preparing the latest Top of the Flops report — listening to the Rolling Stones’ first new album in 18 years, prizes available for spotting most Stones titles — my thoughts turned to the drop in number of bonds (and especially loans) trading at stressed/distressed levels.