

SHY/JNK, one of the cleanest proxies for credit stress. When this ratio starts rising, it means short-duration Treasuries are outperforming junk bonds. In simple words, capital is slowly moving away from credit risk and into safety. Equities can ignore yields for a while. Equities can ignore oil for a while. Equities can ignore the dollar for a while. But equities cannot ignore credit spreads for long. Because credit is the real funding layer of the risk-on system. When spreads start widening, it means the market is beginning to price stress in balance sheets, refinancing, liquidity, and default risk. Right now equities may still look strong on the surface, especially in tech. But if credit spreads start waking up, the equity rally becomes fragile very quickly. This is not a sell signal yet. But it is a major warning dashboard. Eyes on credit spreads. If SHY/JNK starts trending higher, risk assets will eventually have to listen.



























