Key Point: “More companies filed for bankruptcy-court protection in the first three months of this year than in any first quarter since 2010, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. … 190 U.S. companies filed for bankruptcy protection in January through March.”

Wall Street Journal: Companies Are Going Bankrupt at the Fastest Rate Since 2010

By Matt Wirz

• More companies filed for bankruptcy-court protection in the first three months of this year than in any first quarter since 2010, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

• 190 U.S. companies filed for bankruptcy protection in January through March.

• Industrial and consumer-discretionary companies made up the largest industry blocks, with 32 and 24 filings, respectively.

• Potentially more worrisome, three of the largest filings were from technology and media companies … Each had more than $1 billion of liabilities.

• An uptick in tech defaults would foist losses on the private-credit funds, insurers and vehicles known as collateralized loan obligations, or CLOs, that bought much of the debt.