The Altman NYU-Salomon Center defaulted bank and bond indexes continued to diverge last month with the bank loan index rising by 2.51% and the defaulted bond index declining by 2.28%. This follows the pattern of the total returns for last year, according to research by Edward Altman, Max L. Heine Professor of Finance at New York University. The bank loan index in 2002 showed gains of just over 3%, while the bond index declined by almost 6%, Altman indicates.
The advances in the bank loan index last month were widespread, with advancing bank loan facilities outpacing decliners by nearly three to one in the 64-facility index. Conseco, Laidlaw and Budget Group made the largest gains, while advances were reduced by Kmart, Williams Communications Group and Safety Kleen.