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Finance and economics
财经商业
High-yield bonds
高利债券
An appetite for junk
来点垃圾
Companies have taken advantage of investors'growing willingness to buy speculative bonds
公司很好的利用了投资者日益高涨的购买投机性债券的意愿
WHEN cash deposits pay virtually zero, investors have an incentive to take risks in search of higher returns.
当存款利率近乎于零，投资者便会冒险寻求更高收益。
That has been good news for the high-yield, or junk, bond market, where companies with poor credit ratings turn for finance.
而这对于高利债券、或垃圾债券市场来说，无疑是个好消息，那些信用评级差的公司通常通过这种方式融资。
Many companies can now borrow at rates that governments would have been pleased to achieve two decades ago.
现在，许多公司可以以各国政府二十年前喜闻乐见的利率获得投资。
Indeed, so low have borrowing costs fallen that some wags have dubbed the market the asset class formerly known as high-yield.
诚然，借贷成本降至如此之低，甚至有人将其戏称为前高利债券。
Until the hiatus related to the budget crisis inAmerica, companies were rushing to take advantage of this financing opportunity.
直到此次美债违约，各家公司纷纷借助这股东风融资。
In the first nine months of the year global high-yield-bond issuance reached 378.2 billion, up by 27% on the same period in 2012, according to Dealogic, a financial-data firm. Sprint,
据金融数据公司迪罗基称，今年前九个月发现的高利债券达到了3782亿美元，同比增长27%。
an American telecoms company, raised 6.5 billion in two simultaneous bond issues, the largest-ever junk financing.
美国电信公司Sprint通过同步发行债券筹集到了65亿美元，这也是迄今为止最大的垃圾融资。
Low rates will not last forever, so companies are keen to take advantage of what might be an historic opportunity.
低利率不会持续太久，公司自然不会错过这次千载难逢的机会。
And investors have been happy to take the extra yields on offer, given the positive returns achieved since 2009.
鉴于2009年后获得正收益，投资者也乐意出资获取额外收益。
In America, the modern high-yield-bond market dates back to the 1980s. Until then, high-yield bonds were usually fallen angels—companies which previously had an investment-grade credit rating but had seen their finances suffer.
美国现代高利债券起源于上世纪八十年代。在那之前，高利率债券通常都是落难天使—此前已获得投资信用评级的公司都遭遇过财务危机。
But Michael Milken and his team at Drexel Burnham Lambert, an investment bank, discovered there was a market for high-yield debt from new issuers, often in connection with companies making takeover bids.
但是，德瑞债券的迈克尔米尔肯为高利债券发行者发现了新的市场，而这通常和公司收购行动密不可分。
The market is now huge.
现在，这一市场前景广阔，
A study by Russell, a consultancy, estimated its total size at 1.7 trillion.
咨询公司Russell预计其总需求为1.7万亿。
Almost half of all the corporate bonds rated by Standard & Poor's are classed as speculative, a polite term for junk.
标普公司发布的信用评级中超过半数公司债券均为投机性债券—垃圾债券的委婉说法。
Part of this is down to fashion; companies have been urged to return spare cash to shareholders and to make their balance-sheets more efficient by taking advantage of the tax deductibility of interest payments.
其中，部分债券已经流于形式，股东撤回公司闲钱，如此便可利用付息债券避税，从而使得资产负债表更加均衡。
Another big boost to the market has been the broadening of its base beyondAmerica.
高利债券膨胀的另一大原因是除美国市场之外，世界其他地区需求增加。
According to Fraser Lundie, a high-yield-bond manager at Hermes,America comprised 89% of the market in 1998; now it forms just 57%.Europehas gone from 3% of the market to 27%.
爱马仕高利债券经理弗雷泽伦迪表示，1998年美国国内发行的高利债券占全世界的89%，现在降至57%，而欧洲则由当初的3%增至27%。
The rise of high-yield bonds has been handy for European companies in the wake of the financial crisis, as many banks have been seeking to shrink their balance-sheets, and have been less willing to offer loans.
随着金融危机的爆发，高利债券发行量的增长对欧洲公司来说也极为便利，因为银行都减少贷款，平衡资产负债表。
Historically, European companies have been much more dependent on bank finance than their American counterparts.
从历史观点上说，相对于美国公司，欧洲公司对银行的依赖更强。
They also used to be warier of seeing their bonds classed as junk.
过去，欧洲公司甚至害怕其债券被评为垃圾级。
Low rates have been good for the market in another way.
从另一个层面来说，低利率对市场有利。
They have enabled companies to refinance their debt cheaply, and so pushed back the nettlesome day when their finances will be squeezed by higher borrowing costs.
因为这样公司可以以低成本获得再融资，当初借贷成本高不说，还很难获得通过，简直苦不堪言。
A few years ago there was a worry that a lot of debt would need to be refinanced in 2012 and 2013; now the refinancing hump will not come until 2017 and 2018.
几年前，人们担心过多债务会导致2012年、2013年时需要再融资；现在，在2017年、2018年之前再融资峰值是不会出现的。
A long period of cheap finance makes it less likely that issuers will be forced to default in the short term, and the reduced likelihood of default makes it more attractive for investors to hold bonds.
长期的低成本融资让债券发行方短期内违约的可能性大大降低，违约可能性的降低又会吸引更多投资者持有债券。
In the wake of Lehman's collapse, the spread on junk bonds rose so far that it implied default on a scale not seen since the Great Depression.
随着雷曼兄弟的破产，垃圾债券的差额大幅增长，这也就导致了大萧条后前所危机的违约浪潮。
But after a brief spike to 13.7% in 2009, the default rate on global high-yield bonds dropped steadily and was just 2.8% in September, according to Moody's, another ratings agency.
但是，据评级公司穆迪称，2009年13.7%的违约高峰很快便平息；今年九月，全球高利率债券违约率仅为2.8%。
But not all is sunny in the high-yield world.
但是，高利债券市场并非总是风平浪静。
Although the market has doubled or tripled in size since 2008, liquidity has diminished.
尽管自2008年后高利债券市场规模已经增至原来的两至三倍，债券的流动性却降低了。
Regulatory restrictions mean that banks no longer hold as much inventory in the form of bonds; since 2002, there has been a decline of almost three-quarters.
监管限制让银行无法继续像以前那样持有太多债券形式的存货。自2002年来，银行所持债券已经减少了75%。
PIMCO, a huge bond-fund manager, said in a recent report, We see reduced liquidity as an important secular trend. It is an unintended consequence of the deleveraging and re-regulation of banks globally. It will result in higher volatility in times of stress.
近期，太平洋投资管理公司发布的一篇报道称，我们认为流动性的降低将会是一个重要的长期趋势，这是全球银行重新平衡、管理的副作用。
In other words, if investors ever lose their current enthusiasm for high-yield bonds, they will find it much harder, and probably costlier, to offload them.
换句话说，如果投资者对高利债券的热情降低，他们便会发现想要抛售这些债券将会更加困难、或许还会付出更高代价。
Meanwhile, the growing enthusiasm for high-yield bonds is likely to diminish the returns they offer.
与此同时，随着人们对高利债券愈发热衷，其回报率也会相应降低。
In the past investors typically bought junk bonds at a discount to their face value; they hoped that the profits on bonds that were repaid at maturity would offset the losses on the few issuers that defaulted.
过去，投资者都是以折扣价买入垃圾债券，他们希望债券到期的收益能够抵消部分违约发行者带来的损失。
Yet in May this year the average price of a high-yield bond reached 6% above face value, according to Mr Lundie.
然而，据伦迪数据显示今年五月高利债券的平均价格超过了其面值的6%。
Holding a bond until maturity will thus result in a capital loss, although investors may still profit from interest.
尽管投资者仍可从利息中获利，但持有高利债券直至到期将会造成一定资本损失。
Worse, many bonds—perhaps two-thirds or three-quarters of the market—have a call option attached to them that allows the issuer to repay the debt if it reaches a certain price.
更糟糕的是许多债券—可能2/3或3/4的现行债券—都有看涨期权，如果债券达到一定价格，发行方可以偿还债务。
That allows issuers to take advantage of growing optimism about their prospects to reissue bonds at lower interest.
这也就使得发行方可以利用投资者不断高涨的乐观情绪，以更低的利率发行债券。
Such call options skew the risk-reward trade-off.
看涨期权让风险报酬交易失去了平衡。
If a bond gets close to the callable price, it is unlikely to rise much further: who would bid 110 cents for a bond that can be redeemed at 104?
如果某个债券接近可赎回价格，其价格也就不大可能会继续涨了：谁会愿意花110美分购买104美分就可以赎回的债券呢？
On the other hand, if the company hits hard times, the bond could fall quite sharply in price. So investors face a limited upside and a big downside.
另一方面，如果市场萧条，债券价格便会一落千丈。因此，对投资者来说此事弊大于利。
That has tended to push investors towards ever riskier assets, such as CCC-rated bonds—the lowest category excluding those issuers that have already defaulted.
这回让投资者转向风险更大的债券，比如除违约债券以外的最低评级债券，CCC级债券。
David Newman of Rogge Global Partners, a fund-management firm, reckons that such bonds are now probably overpriced, given the risks involved.
来自资金管理公司Rogge Global Partners的大卫纽曼认为考虑到风险因素，这类债券目前可能定价过高。
It is in the nature of the bond markets that, when conditions are good, investors get more relaxed about credit quality.
债券市场的特性是当市场环境良好，投资者便会对信用质量更加放心。
Some observers think that the risks of high-yield bonds are being systematically underestimated.
部分观察人士认为，高利债券的风险被普遍低估。
The spreads paid by high-yield issuers are low relative to the historical average, although they are more than sufficient to compensate investors given the low level of defaults.
尽管，考虑到低违约率，债券发行方更加确信可以让投资者收到回报；但是，同历史平均水平相比，现在高利债券发行方所付的利率更低。
If central banks start raising interest rates to deal with a resurgence of inflation, or if the global economy slips back into recession, junk-bond investors may suffer a nasty shock. But for the moment they are enjoying the ride.
如果央行为了规避通胀而开始提高利率，或者全球经济再度陷入萧条，垃圾债券投资者或许会损失惨重。但是，现在他们正享。
