Challenges faced by General Electric Co. are unique enough to keep the recent sell-off in the company’s bonds isolated from the rest of market, according to Bank of America Corp.

GE’s bonds have taken a beating in recent weeks as investors question the company’s debt load, corporate structure and eroding cash flows. Investors have also been questioning whether the company’s problems could be bad news for other bond issuers rated in the same BBB tier. Bank of America disagrees with that last point.

'Our view is that GE is small enough, and the story sufficiently idiosyncratic, to leave other large BBB capital structures relatively little affected ,' BofA strategists led by Hans Mikkelsen wrote in a Nov. 13 report.

When General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. were downgraded to junk in 2005 their outstanding bonds measured 6.5 percent and 6.3 percent of the high-yield market, respectively. GE’s current outstanding eligible debt of about $50 billion amounts to 3.9 percent of high yield, according to Mikkelsen.

Since GE was gradually downgraded to BBB rating tier over the last month, its bonds have begun trading like junk-rated securities, rather than low-end investment-grade notes, Mikkelsen wrote.

Investors have expressed concern regarding the size of the BBB-rated bond universe and what might happen if a large portion of those issuers are downgraded into high-yield territory.

Guggenheim Partners’ Chief Investment Officer Scott Minerd said in a tweet Tuesday that the GE sell-off isn’t isolated and “the slide and collapse in investment grade credit has begun.”

The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. IG Corporate Bond Index widened to 119 basis points over Treasuries at the close Tuesday, up from 115 basis points on Friday. That’s its biggest jump since February.