Bond yields increased about 20 basis points during the month of October on news of higher inflation in the US. Naturally, as inflation eats into yields, investors demand proportionally higher returns. The data are accumulated by Moody's. All bonds in the data sample have maturities between 6-8 years and outstanding values of at least $50 million. Each bond is weighted equally in the sample and based on end-of-month yields.Baa3 and above are considered investment grade, which start at about 4% yield. The "non-investment grade speculative" class is comprised of Ba1, Ba2, and Ba3 rated bonds. Anything below that is considered "highly or extremely speculative." It's tough sledding in the fixed income world when high-yield/junk bonds start out with yields at under 5%, with "highly speculative" bonds starting at just 5.4%.