After years of managing household budgets through the stress of the worst inflation in a generation, US families are increasingly pressured by a different kind of financial squeeze: The cost of carrying debt.

Savvy investors seized tightening credit markets this year to reshape the distressed investing playing field just as more companies look destined for default in 2023.

Oaktree Capital Group LLC co-founder Howard Marks is gearing up for one of the best buying opportunities since the global financial crisis as higher interest rates and a looming recession push more companies into distress.

For the better part of a decade, credit investors like David Sherman have been waiting for the market to come back down to earth.

Dubious debts are back again after the pandemic, and so is Elizabeth Warren, who’s renewing efforts to keep private equity firms from forcing new loans on companies they own to extract dividends that they can’t afford.