Investors should buy US high-yield bonds and emerging market debt even as Europe’s fiscal crisis is poised to worsen, according to JPMorgan Chase.

The bank, which is the most active underwriter of corporate debt this year, has an “underweight” recommendation on high-grade bonds and is “overweight” on B-rated notes, according to analysts in a Nov. 25 report. “Underweight” positions are when fund managers hold less debt relative to benchmark indexes.

JPMorgan is “generally positive on risky assets” in 2012, even with yields on Italian and Spanish bonds climbing to euro-era records and Europe heading toward a recession.

Junk bonds will probably return 9.6 percent in 2012 and emerging market debt may gain as much as 10 percent, according to the report.