An 'education' piece from PIMCO, could be interesting &/or useful on a subdued sort of Asian afternoon
High yield bonds - defined as corporate bonds rated below BBB− or Baa3 by established credit rating agencies - can play an important role in many portfolios. They typically offer higher coupons than government bonds or high grade corporates and have the potential for price appreciation in the event of an improvement in the economy, or performance of the issuing company (of course, if these conditions worsen, then prices can also go down). Because the high yield sector generally has a low correlation to other sectors of the fixed income market along with less sensitivity to interest rate risk, an allocation to high yield bonds may provide portfolio diversification benefits. In addition, high yield bond investments have historically offered similar returns to equity markets, but with lower volatility.
