Group 1 - The U.S. credit market is experiencing an unusual boom, with high demand for corporate bonds despite historically low returns [1] - Investment-grade and high-yield bond valuations are at historical highs, with the investment-grade bond spread to U.S. Treasuries dropping to 0.74 percentage points, the lowest since 1998 [1] - The total issuance of U.S. investment-grade corporate bonds reached $210 billion by September 2025, marking a historical high for the same period [1] Group 2 - The financing for high-risk borrowers has expanded from traditional bonds and loans to private credit and asset-backed securities, increasing the potential for default risk [2] - Recent bankruptcy cases, such as Tricolor Holdings and First Brands Group, have raised concerns about the stability of the market [2] - The private credit market has grown to nearly $2 trillion over the past decade, with a lack of strict external regulation making risk accumulation harder to monitor [2] Group 3 - The private credit default rate rose to 9.5% in July 2024, indicating ongoing vulnerabilities in the market [3] - The direction of the credit market is heavily influenced by the U.S. macroeconomic environment, with potential implications for interest rates and borrower pressure [3] - The current credit boom may be overstretching future risk tolerance, as indicated by the increase in "payment-in-kind" (PIK) instruments [3]