NEW YORK, Nov 8 (Reuters) - U.S. investment-grade

corporate credit spreads hit their lowest since 1998 this week

in a sign of growing investor confidence in the U.S. economy and

in line with a surge in other risk assets such as stocks after

Republican Donald Trump's election as U.S. president.

The spread on the ICE BofA U.S. Corporate Index,

a commonly used benchmark for high-grade debt, declined to 78

basis points on Thursday, its lowest since 1998. Spreads were at

86 bps at the end of last month.

Meanwhile, spreads in the ICE BofA U.S. High Yield Index

, which tracks so-called junk bonds, dipped to 273

basis points on Thursday, their lowest since 2007, down from 288

bps at the end of October, LSEG data on Friday showed.

The moves come amid a sharp rally in equities markets after

Trump won a second term as U.S. president in Tuesday's election.

His policies are largely expected to benefit corporations due to

lower taxes and looser regulation.

The S&P 500 briefly touched the psychologically

significant 6,000 mark for the first time on Friday.

Investment-grade credit index spreads narrowed 8 basis

points over the week, which was the largest weekly narrowing for

the index since June 2023, Daniel Krieter, director of fixed

income strategy at BMO Capital Markets, said in a note on

Friday.