Dive Brief:
- The total number of larger U.S. corporate bankruptcy petitions filed this year through June ticked up to 372, just above the 371 total in the year-earlier period, keeping it hovering at the highest level since 2010, according to a Monday report from S&P Global.
- In the first six months industrial companies filed the most bankruptcies with a total of 50, followed by consumer discretionary companies (35) and healthcare (26).
- In the month of June alone, industrials and healthcare companies led the distressed sectors filing at least seven filings each followed by the financial sector with five petitions, according to the findings.
Dive Insight:
Small businesses also showed signs of distress.
A total of 1,663 small businesses filed for bankruptcy during the first half of 2026 — a 50% jump from the year-earlier period, according to a release last week from Epiq AACER, a bankruptcy information services platform.
The increase in small business filings for bankruptcy via Subchapter V elections within Chapter 11 was attributed to “ongoing financial pressures facing households and employers,” Amy Quackenboss, executive director of the American Bankruptcy Institute said in a statement in the release.
“Higher borrowing costs, increasing expenses, and geopolitical volatility are leading more debtors to turn to the bankruptcy system to restructure obligations and pursue a financial fresh start,” she said.
Despite the bankruptcy filing spikes, credit markets didn’t demonstrate heightened concern about a broader default risk among speculative-grade U.S. corporate borrowers, as the spread on five-year CDX North American High Yield index tightened to nearly 304 basis points by the end of June, S&P reported. That was less than the recent spike of 406 basis points through March.
