_Economy and Finance

U.S. High Yield Default Insight The U.S. high yield par default rate continues to track closely to the 2012 year-end rate of 1.9%, At the end of February, it slipped modestly to 1.8% (mostly due to the market's larger size), and we project a similar level for the first quarter. March has added filings from gaming operator Revel AC, Inc. and phone directory publisher, Dex Media, and two missed interest payments from oil and gas company GMX Resources and healthcare concern Rotech. These add an estimated $1.5 billion to the year's default tally of $2.8 billion through February. An update of default, recovery rates and other metrics can be found by clicking on the report link below. Fitch Ratings

U.S. High Yield Default Loss Rate Below 1% in 2012 For the third consecutive year, the U.S. high yield default rate remained well below average, ending 2012 at 1.9% and up just modestly from 1.5% in 2011. The average recovery rate on the year’s defaults was 50.2% and the median recovery, 38.9%. Both measures slipped from 2011’s more robust 59.4% average and 47.9% median.