Fitch Ratings said that the rate of U.S. high-yield defaults is likely in May to hit the highest level since October 2010 following two major bankruptcy filings this month, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Friday. The firm said that the recent bankruptcy filings of mortgage lender Residential Capital Corp. and aircraft maker Hawker Beechcraft Inc. will add $3.4 billion to the April year-to-date default tally of $5.8 billion, putting the default rate on track to top 2 percent in May. Noting the pace of defaults this year is running ahead of last year's activity, Fitch said on Friday that the count of defaulted issuers now stands at 16, more than double the level seen at the same point last year. It added that the par value of bonds affected by defaults is up even more substantially, totaling $9.2 billion thus far this year versus $1.7 billion in 2011.
