Bear Stearns High Yield Index now up for five straight weeks, year-to-date gain reaches 25.72%

New York, Dec. 1 - The Bear Stearns High Yield Index continued its recent run of gains, bringing the upward move to five weeks in a row with a 0.46% total return in the week to Nov. 27.

The index is now higher by 25.72% so far this year. In 14 of the last 15 weeks the index has recorded positive returns.

All 11 of the industry sectors making up the index showed gains in the week just completed.

Transportation led the move up with a 0.80% gain, taking its year-to-date performance to 30.25%. The week before, transportation had been the only sector in negative territory.

Finance was the laggard among the 11 sectors, eking out a 0.05% rise for a 28.67% return since Jan. 1.

The utility sector remains in the number one spot for 2003 so far with a 51.30% rise after moving up 0.68% in the most recent seven days.

Consumer non-cyclicals is still in last place with a 13.32% return after adding 0.24% in the week to Nov. 27.

Textile and apparel, after several weeks as the biggest loser, scored the largest gain among the sub-sectors making up the broader industry groups. It shot up 1.93% in the week although it remains down 5.26% so far in 2003, the only one of the sub-sectors to show a loss.

Meanwhile "other finance" was the only sub-sector to lose ground in the week, slipping 0.03% for a year-to-date return of 32.09%.

Long distance remains the top performing sub-sector for the year so far at 79.49% after inching up 0.05% in the most recent week.

The index ended the week with a market value of $493.002 billion in 1,656 issues, both up from $490.325 billion in 1,653 issues the week before.

The index's yield to worst ended the week at 8.13%, down seven basis points from 8.20% the week before, while the yield-to-worst spread narrowed 18 basis points to 503 basis points.

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