Offerings of speculative-grade bonds reached at least $10.7 billion, compared with $12.8 billion last week and a 2012 weekly average of $6.6 billion, Bloomberg data show.

Plains, the oil and gas producer acquiring assets from BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, sold $3 billion of bonds to help fund the purchase. The company sold $1.5 billion each of 6.5 percent, eight-year debt at a relative yield of 509 basis points and 6.875 percent securities due February 2023 at a spread of 516 basis points, Bloomberg data show.

The bonds due 2023, sold at par, traded at 100.4 cents on the dollar yesterday to yield 6.83 percent, Trace data show.

'Challenging Environment'

High-risk, high-yield bonds are rated below Baa3 by Moody's Investors Service and lower than BBB- by Standard & Poor's.

Yields on junk debt rose to 6.884 percent yesterday from 6.856 percent on Oct. 19, and compare with a record low of 6.843 percent reached on Oct. 18, according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch U.S. High Yield Master II index. Spreads increased 2 basis points to 533 basis points.

Of the 273 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported third-quarter results, 59.3 percent missed analysts' sales estimates, Bloomberg data show.

"The big 'C' and 'E' words, China and Europe, are really what's creating this challenging environment," Lurie said. "It's causing a weakness in the equity markets and it's translating over to the bond market."

DuPont Co., the most valuable U.S. chemical maker, said it will eliminate about 1,500 jobs and posted a smaller profit than analysts estimated, while 3M Co. reduced its forecast amid recession in Europe and slowing Asia growth. Alfa Laval AB, the world's largest maker of heat exchangers, said demand in the fourth quarter may be slow.

U.S. Election

"It's a bit of a wait-and-see with what happens with Spain, the U.S. election, the fiscal cliff and China," Thomas Chow, a money manager at Delaware Investments in Philadelphia with about $170 billion under management, said in a telephone interview.

The so-called fiscal cliff refers to $607 billion in federal spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to take effect in January unless the U.S. Congress acts.