by Calculated Risk on 9/03/2009 08:09:00 PM

From Rolfe Winkler at Reuters: U.S. junk bond default rate rises to 10.2 pct -S&P

The U.S. junk bond default rate rose to 10.2 percent in August from 9.4 percent in July ... Standard & Poor's data showed on Thursday.

The default rate is expected to rise to 13.9 percent by July 2010 and could reach as high as 18 percent if economic conditions are worse than expected, S&P said in a statement.
...
In another sign of corporate distress, the rating agency has downgraded $2.9 trillion of company debt year to date, up from $1.9 trillion in the same period last year.

Bad loans everywhere ...