While investors wonder if the stock market rally can struggle on through the forthcoming US reporting season, businesses in the real world continue to suffer. So far this year, there have been 68 defaults by global debt issuers, according to Standard and Poor’s.

That is triple the same period last year, led by the US, which accounted for two-thirds of all defaults. Moody’s, meanwhile, tallied up 35 defaults in March alone, the greatest number in a single month since the Great Depression.