While the VIX Slumps, Junk-Bond Volatility Wagers Jump: Chart

(Bloomberg) -- Investors are betting on more turbulence in junk debt, diverging from their wagers on continued calm in the stock market. For the sixth week this year, the CBOE High-Yield Corporate Bond ETF Volatility Index, which tracks expectations for price swings in the riskier securities, moved opposite CBOE's VIX index. The equity-volatility measure dropped as U.S. shares advanced, while the bond gauge rallied almost 18 percent amid investor bets credit spreads are poised to widen on weak economic growth and a slump in oil.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cecile Vannucci in London at cvannucci1@bloomberg.net.

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