The U.S. two-year interest-rate swap spread, a measure of debt-market stress, increased 0.19 basis point to 13.5 basis points. The gauge widens when investors seek the perceived safety of government securities and narrows when they favor assets such as corporate bonds.

The Markit CDX North American Investment Grade Index, which investors use to hedge against losses or to speculate on creditworthiness, climbed one basis point to a mid-price of 86.8 basis points, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg. The measure has risen from 84.9 on Jan. 7.

The Markit iTraxx Europe Index of 125 companies with investment-grade ratings increased 0.3 to 103.2 at 11:10 a.m. in London. In the Asia-Pacific region, the Markit iTraxx Asia index of 40 investment-grade borrowers outside Japan was little changed at 105 basis points.

Windstream Loan

The indexes typically rise as investor confidence deteriorates and fall as it improves. Credit-default swaps pay the buyer face value if a borrower fails to meet its obligations, less the value of the defaulted debt. A basis point equals $1,000 annually on a contract protecting $10 million of debt.

The Moody’s trailing 12-month global speculative-grade default rate fell from 3.2 percent in the third quarter and remains below the 4.8 percent historical average in data going back to 1983, New York-based Moody’s said in a report. The rate is higher than the 1.9 percent recorded in 2011.

U.S. speculative-grade defaults fell to 3.2 percent in December, down from 3.6 percent in the previous quarter and compared with 1.9 percent at the end of 2011. High-risk, high- yield bonds are rated below Baa3 by Moody’s and lower than BBB- at Standard & Poor’s.

Windstream’s seven-year debt will pay interest at 2.75 percentage points more than the London interbank offered rate, according to a person with knowledge of the transaction who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Libor, a rate banks say they can borrow in dollars from each other, will have a 0.75 percent floor.

Bid-Ask Spreads

In emerging markets, relative yields widened 2 basis points to 261 basis points, or 2.61 percentage points, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s EMBI Global index. The index had averaged 339.2 in the past 12 months.