a packet of us fivedollar bills is inspected at the bureau of engraving and printing in washington march 26 2015 reutersgary cameron chicago nov 22 reuters  investors looked to shed some risk in the us corporate bond market on monday pushing a fund tracking the highyield sector to its lowest level since march after jerome powells nomination for a second term as federal reserve chair raised expectations of sooner rate hikes the ishares iboxx exchangetraded fund hygp fell about 038 to an eightmonth low of 8622 kathy jones chief fixed income strategist at the schwab center for financial research in new york said there was some shifting out of risk assets as us treasury yields rose with the twoyear yield  which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations topping 059 its highest level since early march 2020 if the market is correct that the fed is going to tighten a couple of times next year then financial conditions are going to get tighter and some of the lowerquality companies in the highyield market are going to have a tough time jones said you tend to see risk reduction when you get into a rate hike cycle or tightening cycle she added with the end of 2021 looming investors may also be cashing in gains kenneth monaghan codirector of high yield at amundi asset management us said that after the sectors record issuance and generally good performance people want to close down shop in this particularly exhausting year if i had to guess what will happen between now and the end of the year its going to be a sideways to maybe modestly weaker conversation he said president joe biden nominated powell for a second fouryear term positioning the former investment banker to continue the most consequential revamp of monetary policy since the 1970s and finish guiding the economy out of the pandemic crisis read more on friday highyield spreads widened after diving to 303 basis points on nov 8 the optionadjusted spread on the ice bofa us high yield index merh0a0 a commonly used benchmark for the junk bond market was at 324 basis points on friday its widest since oct 13 reporting by karen pierog editing by alden bentley and david gregorio