The chart below is from last week's Bespoke Report newsletter, and it shows the average yield to maturity on the Merrill Lynch High Yield (Junk) Master Index.  At a current level of 5.24%, investors have never been paid less to own high yield debt.  Yields are so low, in fact, that five years ago the yield on the 10-Year US Treasury was higher than the current yield on junk bonds.

As of this morning, 88% of S&P 500 companies are trading above their 50-day moving averages.  This is a very high reading, but it's not quite as high as the reading we saw back in January.  

The "Sell in May" theory has been turned on its head so far this year.  As shown in the left-hand side of our key ETF matrix below, US equities have jumped out of the gate strong over the first eight trading days of May.  The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) and Smallcap 600 (IJR) have rallied the most with gains of more than 3% already, while the Smallcap 600 Growth ETF (IJT) is up even more at 4.03%.  The rally we've seen to start the month has been led by cyclical sectors like Industrials (XLI) and Consumer Discretionary (XLY).  The weakness in defensive sectors has been notable as well.

About 500 companies reported earnings this week, pushing the total number of companies that have reported this season up to more than 2,100.  And while the market is up on the week, earnings haven't been great.  At the start of the week, the percentage of companies that had beaten earnings estimates this season stood above 59%.  The additional 500+ companies that reported this week only beat earnings at a 52% rate, pushing the overall earnings beat rate down to 57.6%.   As shown below, this would be the weakest reading of the entire bull market if earnings season ended today.