CCC Bond Spreads Hit 13.3%, Blowing Past 2022 Peak as Credit Stress Builds

The bottom rung of US corporate credit is cracking. Spreads on CCC-rated and lower bonds have climbed to 13.3%, a level last seen near the 2020 pandemic panic, according to @KobeissiLetter. That puts them above the 12.9% peak hit during the 2022 bear market.

The move has been fast. Since January 2026, the metric has surged by 490 basis points, the account noted. For scale, the 2020 February-to-March blowout topped out at 18.8% — the only recent episode that ran hotter than where things sit now.

The split between junk and quality is just as stark. The spread differential between CCC- and BBB-rated corporate debt has widened to roughly 1,200 basis points, its widest in at least five years. In plain terms, investors want about 12 percentage points more compensation to hold the lowest-rated debt instead of first-notch investment-grade paper.

That gap is the tell. Lenders are not repricing credit broadly — they are demanding a premium specifically for the shakiest balance sheets, while investment-grade issuers sit far away from the damage.

@KobeissiLetter's read on the data: cracks are spreading quickly through the lowest-quality credit.