The Fed’s Intervention is Widening the Gap Between Market Haves and Have-Nots – Wall St Journal

The handful of markets in which the Fed has directly intervened by purchasing assets or lending against them have recouped some of their losses since then, a reassuring sign for investors who were taken aback by the indiscriminate selling that occurred throughout much of March.

But in riskier markets that fall outside of the Fed’s purview—including junk bonds, leveraged loans and nongovernment-backed mortgage bonds—the pain has been slower to abate. Some markets remain essentially closed for business, setting off a race against the clock for borrowers to stay afloat.