--- title: "Concerned about the impact of artificial intelligence, credit investors are shifting to defensive positions" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/281696244.md" description: "Due to concerns over the impact of artificial intelligence and geopolitical conflicts, credit investors have withdrawn from the high-risk debt market over the past month and shifted to defensive positions. JP Morgan data shows that investors withdrew $2 billion weekly from U.S. junk bond funds, with the withdrawal scale increasing 20 times. Leveraged loans related to the software industry saw outflows of $887 million weekly. Investors are increasing allocations to cash and short-term securities to build a buffer, believing that current junk bond yields are insufficient to compensate for the risks" datetime: "2026-04-05T01:02:14.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/281696244.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/281696244.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/281696244.md) --- # Concerned about the impact of artificial intelligence, credit investors are shifting to defensive positions \[Global Network Finance Comprehensive Report\] Due to the impact of artificial intelligence and ongoing concerns about geopolitical conflicts, credit investors have withdrawn from higher-risk areas of the debt market over the past month, shifting towards defensive positions. According to the Financial Times, data compiled by JP Morgan shows that investors withdrew an average of $2 billion per week from U.S. junk bond funds in the past month, more than 20 times the withdrawal scale of the previous four weeks. JP Morgan data shows that leveraged loans related to the struggling software industry saw an average weekly outflow of $887 million during the same period, compared to an inflow of $247 million in the previous month. The report cites Ali Hassan, a portfolio manager at Thornburg Investment Management, stating, "In the current environment, we have become more cautious and tend to avoid risks." The company is reducing its holdings in high-yield bonds while increasing its positions in U.S. Treasury bonds and investment-grade bonds. Some investors have also increased their allocation to cash and short-term securities to build a buffer. Sanjay Chawla, Chief Investment Officer of insurance group FM, said, "It's always good to increase cash buffers during uncertain times in the financial markets. Given that we are not in a zero or low-interest-rate environment, it is better to maintain a higher cash allocation for a longer period until you can gain better visibility." Concerns about artificial intelligence have suppressed investor demand, leading customer service software group Qualtrics to suspend over $5 billion in bond issuance in March. There are signs that investors are demanding higher compensation for the default risk associated with holding lower-quality debt, as the average spread of U.S. high-yield bonds widened to 3.46 percentage points on Monday, the highest level since May 2025. Data from the Intercontinental Exchange shows that the total yield exceeded 7.4% at the end of March. Nevertheless, some investors remain unconvinced, believing that the current yields on junk bonds are insufficient given the ongoing risks. If interest rates rise, bonds issued at lower rates will become less attractive. 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