Securities backed by credit cards and auto loans have rallied sharply in recent months and values are now close to levels not seen since before the sector’s breakdown last September.

Following the panic that seized financial markets across the globe after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the value of even relatively low-risk securities backed by loans plunged as selling hit all credit markets. The turmoil made it impossible for new financing to be raised through the sale of asset-backed bonds, for years one of the biggest sources of financing for the credit market.