Yield Spread

The yield spread helps investors make decisions. It's the difference between two yields on different debt instruments. Basically, it’s the investor saying, “what’s the opportunity cost of x security over y security? Which will get me a higher yield?”

The debt instruments don’t even have to be that similar. Apples and oranges. Bananas and kiwis. They can have different maturities, credit ratings, and levels of risk.

When looking at a yield spread, it can also help investors choose between debt instruments based on the current versus the historical yield spread. For instance, if something used to have a small return, but now has a large return, it will shrink the yield spread between that debt instrument and another, more stable security. In that case, the investor would probably go with the debt instrument that is doing very well now compared to before, since it’s attractive, with a current yield that’s higher than it was previously.