Bond defaults deliver creditors 2¢ to 3¢ on the dollar

Bloomberg/Jeremy Hill and Max Reyes/10-26-2020

“Bankruptcy filings are surging due to the economic fallout of Covid-19, and many lenders are coming to the realization that their claims are almost completely worthless. Instead of recouping, say, 40 cents for every dollar owed, as has been the norm for years, unsecured creditors now face the unenviable prospect of walking away with just pennies — if that.”

USAGOLD note:  In the book The Fourth Turning, Strauss and Howemake repeated reference to what they call a period of “unraveling”.  “An initial spark,” they say, “will trigger a chain reaction of unyielding responses and further emergencies.”  As I sift through the daily news, I find more and more evidence of this unraveling – so many that most of us lose track.  At the same time, though each particular instance (like corporate bond defaults) need not be fully understood, it would be advisable to understand the totality –the Great Unravelling – as phenomena we need to address as investors.  A house of cards, no matter how elaborate, is still a house of cards.