This report does not constitute a rating action. The secondary loan market experienced one of its worst months of the year in October as persistent inflation, rising interest rates, and the Middle East war turned investors more cautious. Additionally, considerable issuance volume supporting AI investment and rising benchmark rates are putting further pressure on the price of corporate borrowers'outstanding debt. This risk backdrop has extended a bifurcation in the market, with greater consequences for lower-rated credits, the software sector, and debt denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. The average bid of all first-lien term loans in our sample declined 44 basis points (bps) in October to 98.53, from 98.97 on Sept. 29, its largest monthly decline since
