# High yield vs Treasuries | PIER20 benchmarks Is the market rewarding credit risk, or are investors reaching for safety? The high yield vs Treasuries benchmark compares high-yield corporate bonds (HYG) with 7-10 year US Treasuries (IEF), both rebased to 100 at the shared start. A high-yield line above the Treasury line means credit risk is being rewarded with excess return; below means investors are being paid less than the risk-free rate. The spread frames the market's appetite for credit risk. As of **11 Aug 2026**, the High yield (HYG) line stands at **253.3** and the 7-10y Treasury (IEF) line at **183.9** (both base = 100 at the shared start). The High yield (HYG) line is up 5.1% over the past year and above its long-run median of 164.6. ## Summary statistics (full history) | Series | First | Latest | Min | Max | |---|---|---|---|---| | High yield (HYG) | 100.0 | 253.3 | 68.7 | 253.6 | | 7-10y Treasury (IEF) | 100.0 | 183.9 | 97.3 | 208.5 | ## Last 24 readings | Date | High yield (HYG) | 7-10y Treasury (IEF) | |---|---|---| | Jul 2026 | 252.8 | 184.8 | | Jul 2026 | 252.7 | 184.7 | | Jul 2026 | 252.1 | 184.0 | | Jul 2026 | 252.6 | 184.5 | | Jul 2026 | 253.0 | 185.0 | | Jul 2026 | 253.0 | 184.9 | | Jul 2026 | 252.5 | 185.1 | | Jul 2026 | 252.6 | 184.5 | | Jul 2026 | 252.5 | 184.1 | | Jul 2026 | 252.1 | 183.6 | | Jul 2026 | 251.2 | 183.2 | | Jul 2026 | 251.2 | 183.5 | | Jul 2026 | 251.3 | 184.0 | | Jul 2026 | 251.8 | 184.6 | | Jul 2026 | 251.2 | 183.8 | | Jul 2026 | 251.9 | 183.9 | | Jul 2026 | 251.9 | 183.3 | | Aug 2026 | 252.6 | 183.7 | | Aug 2026 | 253.4 | 184.6 | | Aug 2026 | 253.3 | 184.7 | | Aug 2026 | 253.1 | 184.0 | | Aug 2026 | 253.6 | 184.4 | | Aug 2026 | 253.2 | 183.6 | | Aug 2026 | 253.3 | 183.9 | ## How to read this benchmark **What a high or low spread means.** When the HYG line runs well above the IEF line, the market is rewarding credit risk: investors are being paid a healthy premium over Treasuries for holding lower-quality debt. Such widening has marked growth regimes and easy financial conditions. When the spread narrows or inverts, investors are reaching for safety, either because defaults are rising or because recession risk is being priced in. **Why 7-10 year Treasuries as the comparator.** IEF isolates the belly of the Treasury curve, the most liquid part of the risk-free market, which is the natural benchmark for credit spread analysis. Comparing HYG to IEF rather than to TLT controls for duration: both HYG and IEF sit in the intermediate part of the curve, so the spread between them isolates credit risk rather than mixing in term-premium effects. **Limitations.** HYG is an ETF that holds a diversified basket of below-investment-grade corporate bonds and reflects total return including reinvested coupons, so it is a credit-market index proxy rather than a pure spread instrument. The spread measured here is a price-return spread, not the option-adjusted credit spread that fixed-income desks quote. The window begins in April 2007, so it captures the 2008 crisis and 2020 pandemic but misses earlier credit cycles. Treat the chart as context for credit-risk appetite, not investment advice. **Historical extremes.** HYG bottomed near 69 on the rebased scale in November 2008 during the financial crisis, when credit spreads blew out and high-yield bonds collapsed alongside equities, while IEF held up far better as a flight-to-quality destination. HYG then recovered and has since risen above 251, making new highs, while IEF sits near 183 after peaking at roughly 209 in mid-2020. The current HYG−IEF lead near 37 percentage points reflects credit's recovery and the 2022-2024 bond bear market that hit IEF harder. ## How this benchmark is used **Credit-risk appetite and risk-on / risk-off.** Credit strategists use the HYG−IEF spread as a real-time gauge of credit-risk appetite: a widening spread with HYG making new highs signals a risk-on regime where investors are reaching for yield, while a narrowing or inverting spread signals risk-off demand for quality. The spread's direction is a leading indicator of broader risk-asset positioning. **Recession-signal monitoring.** A sharp HYG underperformance versus IEF historically precedes or coincides with recessions, because high-yield credit weakens first when default risk rises. The 2008 collapse, in which HYG fell to roughly 69 while IEF held its ground, is the clearest case in the dataset. Strategists watch the spread's behavior for early warnings, alongside credit-default-swap indices and high-yield option-adjusted spreads. **Cross-asset credit-equity linkage.** Because high-yield credit and equities share the same equity-sensitive part of the capital structure, the HYG−IEF spread is closely watched by equity traders as a confirmation signal for equity risk appetite. Divergences, where equities make new highs while high-yield credit weakens, have historically warned of equity drawdowns, as in mid-2008 and late-2015. ## Frequently asked questions **What is the current high yield vs Treasuries?** As of 11 Aug 2026, the High yield (HYG) line stands at 253.3 and the 7-10y Treasury (IEF) line at 183.9 (both base = 100 at the shared start). The High yield (HYG) line is up 5.1% over the past year and above its long-run median of 164.6. **How often is this benchmark updated?** This benchmark is built on daily data. The page is refreshed when the source publishes new observations; the freshness block below the chart shows the exact data-through date and when PIER20 last fetched the file. **What data sources does this chart use?** The chart is built from High yield (HYG) and 7-10y Treasury (IEF), sourced from Yahoo Finance. **Have high-yield bonds beaten Treasuries over this window?** Yes. Since April 2007 HYG has risen to roughly 251 on the rebased scale while IEF sits near 183, so the summary callout shows HYG leading IEF by roughly 37 percentage points. The lead reflects credit-risk premium plus the 2022-2024 bond bear market that hit duration-heavy Treasuries harder than shorter-duration high yield. **What is the highest and lowest each line has reached?** On the rebased scale (100 at April 2007), HYG peaked near 253 in July 2026 and bottomed near 69 in November 2008 during the financial crisis. IEF peaked near 209 in August 2020 at the bottom of the rate cycle and has since fallen back to roughly 183 as the Fed hiked. HYG's current reading is near its all-time high on the series. **Why did high yield collapse in 2008 but Treasuries held up?** The 2008 financial crisis was a credit event: high-yield credit spreads blew out as default risk spiked, and investors fled to the safety of US Treasuries. HYG fell to roughly 69 on the rebased scale while IEF held near or above its starting level, because the same risk-off flow that crushed high-yield credit supported the risk-free asset. This is the classic risk-off regime for the credit market. **How is this different from a credit spread?** It is not a true credit spread. A high-yield credit spread, as quoted by fixed-income desks, is the option-adjusted yield difference between a high-yield index and a duration-matched Treasury index, expressed in basis points. This benchmark is a total-return price spread between two ETFs over time, which mixes in coupon income, default experience and duration effects. It is the right chart for tracking credit-risk appetite visually, but not for quoting a spread number. ## Methodology - Formula: HYG and IEF adjusted close indexed to 100 at the shared start - Frequency: Daily - Sources: High yield (HYG) https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/HYG; 7-10y Treasury (IEF) https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/IEF. Data via Yahoo Finance. - Data through: 11 Aug 2026 - Last refreshed: 11 Aug 2026 ## Related benchmarks - [Ten-year Treasury yield vs inflation](https://pier20.com/benchmarks/ten-year-yield-vs-inflation) - [Stocks vs bonds](https://pier20.com/benchmarks/stocks-vs-bonds) Full interactive chart: https://pier20.com/benchmarks/high-yield-vs-treasuries Disclaimer: research software output, not investment advice.