Stick or twist for high yield investors

Investors who gambled on high yield at the start of 2009 are piling up the chips thanks to returns of 35% year-to-date. But uncertainty over high yield default rates and the prospect of an increase in refinancing risk in the long term have left many investors with a dilemma: quit while they’re ahead, or stay in the game and risk giving back some, if not all, of those winnings.

Until recently, the widespread assumption was that the focus of activity in the European credit market in 2009 would be