According to Bloomberg's James Crombie, there is now about $1 trillion of debt trading at distressed levels after this month's credit rout, "and it's rising fast" because as the impact of a severe economic slump, which as noted earlier includes nearly 50,000 shuttered retail locations, and surging funding becomes clear, "credit spreads are set to spiral higher."

Specifically, the number of distressed bonds neared 1,900 this week, just shy of the record 2000 hit during the financial crisis, Bloomberg data shows.

Putting this surge in context, just three weeks ago, at the start of March there were less than 300 distressed issues. The rout is to be expected as the spread on the entire junk bond index flipped above 1,000 bps on Friday, and strategists from JPM and other banks expect it to surpass 1,200 bps soon, leading to a surge in defaults.