RANsquawk European Morning Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 15/12/10

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[Temporalist]

`Avalanche' of Investor Sales Pushes Yields to 16-Month High: Muni Credit

“Nobody’s bidding,” Tony Shields, a principal in the public-finance department at Williams Capital Group LP in New York, said in an e-mail. There’s “an avalanche of bid-wanteds, and there is just not enough liquidity to accommodate this much sell-side pressure.”

Treasury prices plunged yesterday, pushing the 30-year bond yield to a seven-month high, as Federal Reserve policy makers said the U.S. recovery is continuing and maintained a $600 billion program of debt purchases. The 30-year bond yield increased 12 basis points to 4.53 percent at 5:16 p.m. in New York, according to BGCantor Market Data."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-15/-avalanche-of-investor-sales-pu...

Recession pushed down tax 'burden'

"The economic downturn drove tax receipts in the United States to their lowest level in more than 40 years when measured as a percentage of the economy, according to a new study that showed widespread declines in national "tax burdens" throughout the developed world."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/14/AR201012...