It’s getting harder to resist the notion that, after a miserable 10-month period representing the worst bear mauling on record, the leveraged loan market may be on the road to recovery.

Indeed, since bottoming out in early February, the loan market has rallied smartly, pushing the price of Standard & Poor’s LCD flow-name composite – an index of the 15 largest, most liquid loans – up 6.87 per cent to 92.20 per cent of par on June 17, from an all-time low of 86.28 on February 7.