The US leveraged loan market ended 2024 with multiple entries in the record books. Although secondary prices cooled in the final weeks of December, 2024 wrapped up with the second-best performance for the market in eight years, with carry as the key driver of returns. Exceptionally hot demand from CLOs and retail investors fueled a record repricing wave, which compressed spreads across the Morningstar LSTA US Leveraged Loan Index by nearly 30 bps. Amid the challenging exit environment for private equity sponsors, net loan supply remained limited, widening the technical imbalance to record levels.  Marina Lukatsky of Pitchbook LCD wrote this.