On January 11, 2007, Hugo Chavez Frias was sworn in for a third term as Venezuela’s president, promising to expropriate strategic sectors of the economy, specifically public utilities and oil properties and to generally run rough-shod over property rights and the rule of law. […]

The Democratic Party and its supporters have indicated a willingness to enact legislation that will reduce demand for bonds, while increasing supply: a recipe for lower bond prices and higher yields. There are few signs that the weakened Republican Party, now in the minority, will put up effective resistance. Here are some signs, portents, and expectations: Increased […]

Mortgage lending, a major component of the US bond market, continued strong in Q1 2006, as shown in Federal Reserve flow of funds table F217. The four largest suppliers of mortgage funds continue to be commercial banks, savings institutions, agency mortgage pools, and issuers of asset-backed securities, accounting for 86.8% of the market in Q1 2006. In […]