With many opportunities for profit-taking, investors in distressed debt are harvesting their gains and taking comfort in the fact that more trouble is not far off.
"If we have slow growth in the economy from here, it will not be enough," says Fineman. He expects this round of corporate distress to persist longer than it has in previous cycles. "Short of a very robust recovery, we are likely to have several years of elevated defaults."
Riva Atlas is a freelance writer who is a former reporter for Forbes and The New York Times.