Investing Assets & Markets Bonds What Is Yield Spread? By Thomas Kenny Updated on March 15, 2021 Reviewed by Michael J Boyle Reviewed by Michael J Boyle Michael Boyle is an experienced financial professional with more than 10 years working with financial planning, derivatives, equities, fixed income, project management, and analytics. learn about our financial review board In This Article View All In This Article Definition & Examples of the Yield Spread How Yield Spread Works What It Means for Individual Investors Yield Spread: the Bottom Line Photo: NicoElNino / Getty Images Definition Yield spread is one of the key metrics that bond investors can use to gauge how expensive or cheap a particular bond—or group of bonds—might be. In the simplest terms, the yield spread is the difference in the yield between two bonds. Key Takeaways In the simplest terms, the yield spread is the difference in the yield between two bonds.Using the yield spread, an investor can understand how cheap or expensive a bond is. In order to calculate yield spread, subtract the yield of one bond from the yield of the other bond.Spreads are typically expressed in “basis points,” each of which is one-hundredth of a percentage point.In general, the higher-risk a bond or asset class is, the higher its yield spread. Definition and Examples of Yield Spread Using the yield spread, an investor can understand how cheap or expensive a bond is. In order to calculate yield spread, subtract the yield of one bond from the yield of the other bond. If one bond is yielding 5% and another is yielding 4%, the “spread” is one percentage point. Spreads are typically expressed in “basis points,” each of which is one-hundredth of a percentage point. Hence, a one-percentage-point spread is typically said to be 100 basis points. Note Non-Treasury bonds are generally evaluated based on the difference between their yield and the yield on a U.S. Treasury bond of comparable maturity. How Yield Spread Works Yield spreads are not fixed, of course. Because bond yields are always in motion, so too are spreads. The direction of the yield spread can increase, or “widen,” which means that the yield difference between two bonds or sectors is increasing. When spreads narrow, it means the yield difference is decreasing. Keeping in mind that bond yields rise as their prices fall, and vice versa, a rising spread indicates that one sector is performing better than another. Say the yield on a high-yield bond index moves from 8% to 8.5%, while the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury stays even at 2%. The spread moves from 6 percentage points (600 basis points) to 6.5 percentage points (650 basis points), indicating that high-yield bonds underperformed Treasurys during this time. What It Means for Individual Investors Generally speaking, the higher-risk a bond or asset class is, the higher its yield spread. There's a simple reason for this: Investors need to be compensated for trickier propositions. If an investment is seen as being low risk, market participants don’t require a huge incentive, or yield, to devote their money to it. But if an investment is seen as being higher risk, people naturally will demand adequate compensation—a higher yield spread—to take the chance that their principal could decline. For example: A bond issued by a large, stable, and financially healthy corporation will typically trade at a relatively low spread in relation to U.S. Treasurys. Conversely, a bond issued by a smaller company with weaker financials will trade at a higher spread relative to Treasurys. This explains the yield advantage of non-investment grade (high yield) bonds relative to higher-rated, investment-grade bonds. It also explains the gap between higher-risk emerging markets and the usually lower-risk bonds of developed markets. The spread is also used to calculate the yield advantage of similar securities with different maturities. The most widely used is the spread between the two- and 10-year Treasurys, which shows how much extra yield an investor can get by taking on the added risk of investing in longer-term bonds. Yield Spread: the Bottom Line There’s no such thing as a free lunch—a super-strong but no-risk return—in the financial markets. If a bond or bond fund is paying an exceptionally high yield, there’s a reason for it. Anyone who holds that investment is also taking on more risk. As a result, investors should be aware that by simply picking fixed-income investments with the highest yield, they could be endangering their principal more than they were bargaining for. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Corporate Finance Institute. "Basis Points (BPS)." Accessed March 15, 2021. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "Interest Rate Risk—When Interest Rates Go Up, Prices of Fixed-Rate Bonds Fall," Pages 1-3. Accessed March 15, 2021. American Century Investments. "What's the Yield Curve?" Accessed March 15, 2021.