The promise of yet another trillion-dollar cash infusion from a central bank isn't enough to bring individual investors back into the market for risky corporate debt. In fact, they keep bailing.

Investors pulled US$523 million from global high-yield bond mutual and exchange-traded funds in the week ended Jan. 21, according to data compiled by EPFR Global. They withdrew $868 million from funds that buy U.S. speculative-grade loans, bringing their total assets below $100 billion for the first time since September 2013, Wells Fargo & Co. data show.

The goal of the European Central Bank's new 1.1 trillion euro ($1.3 trillion) bond-buying program announced Thursday is to push investors into less-creditworthy notes for bigger—or even just positive—returns.

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