In this week's Off the Cuff podcast, Chris and Mish discuss:
- Interest Rates Breaking Out
- The last thing the economy needs right now
- Loose Lending = Bad Loans
- Didn't we learn this lesson in 2008?
- The Market vs. the Fed
- Market forces always prevail in the end
Well, the volatility predicted in recent Off the Cuff podcasts has arrived on schedule.
The stock markets experienced their first three consecutive down days of 2013 earlier this week, only to recover most of that drop today (and then reversing notably after hours).
The big story here remains the weakness seen the bond markets as interest rates begin to rise above levels not seen for years. Not just in the junk bonds – which are seeing record capital outflows now, not just in corporate bonds, but in sovereign debt. Japan has been an extreme example of this, with bond prices gyrating and trading often halted several times throughout the day.
Meanwhile, the Fed is sweating about what to do about it. We may very well be at the point where the Fed's role in the market switches from 'leader' to 'follower'.
by grover 
