The Future's Are So Meh, You Don't Gotta Wear Shades

Right now, the domestic markets are still being driven by the news about the tax "compromise" from Monday. The news has helped drive Treasury prices down by 2%, pushing up yields. Why? Because this, combined with everyone's reaction to "Big" Ben Bernanke's comments on 60 Minutes, has bond traders worried about a long-term rise in the national debt.

Amusingly enough, the international markets are taking the improving yields as a good sign. According to Adam Cole[1], "the market is taking the rise in US yields as a positive for the dollar rather than a supply story. There are rising expectations for growth." As a result, the dollar is up against the euro and against gold.

China, which does not want to dominate the world thank you very much[2], does not agree. "For now, market attention is still on Europe and for the coming 6-12 months, it will not shift to the United States," said Li Daokui[3]. "But we should be clear in our minds that the fiscal situation in the United States is much worse than in Europe. In one or two years, when the European debt situation stabilizes, attention of financial markets will definitely shift to the United States. At that time, US Treasury bonds and the dollar will experience considerable declines."

Oh, apropos of nothing else, brace yourself for problems with your credit cards. Anonymous has declared war on MasterCard for blocking donations to WikiLeaks[4].

[1] The Global Head of Foreign Exchange Strategy for RBC Capital markets.
[2] "The international community should welcome and not fear China's peaceful development; help it and not hinder it; support it and not hold it back," says State Councilor Dai Bingguo. It doesn't have quite the same ring as "We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile" or "all your base are belong to us", but it does carry a quiet air of understated menace.
[3] Director of the Center for China in the World Economy at Tsinghua University, and one of the academic members of the PBOC Monetary Policy Committee.
[4] A link that is probably not work safe, no matter where you are, now that Homeland Security is pushing to declare WikiLeaks a "terrorist website".