The US high yield bond market had a relatively quiet February, with issuance of $23 billion, the slowest month in terms of volume since last July. With the bustling January – the busiest in the market’s history – issuance through the first two months of 2013 is roughly $56 billion.

The market’s cooling was evident in the largely steady stream of cash out of US-domiciled high yield mutual funds (often into loan funds), including a $1.2 billion outflow early in the month.