At the same time, credit default swap (CDS) indices in  2  BIS Review 77/2008  Europe and the US have declined since mid-March (though recently they have increased somewhat), the availability of bank credit to households and non-financial corporations in the euro area has not been significantly affected by the financial market turbulence, and corporate bond spreads have narrowed Moreover, the functioning of the leveraged loan market is showing some tentative signs of improvement.
With regard to the impact of the market correction on bank profits, the write-downs disclosed by many euro area financial institutions went far beyond the expectations of late last year. Although major euro area banking groups did report large write-downs, these were significantly smaller than the income losses disclosed by their European peers from outside the euro area and by large US banking groups.