Bond Traders Shift Bets With Political Wind
Source: NY Times
By NATHANIEL POPPER
With Congress struggling to reach an agreement on lifting the debt ceiling and re-opening the government, Wall Street spent the afternoon once again ramping up its preparations for a default.
Over the last few days, investors had followed the optimistic talks in Congress and scaled back their bets that the United States would miss payments on its debt in the near future. However, after House Republicans struggled on Tuesday to agree on a plan, the optimism quickly dried up and investors redoubled their plans for a default.
The gloom increased after the close of trading when the credit ratings agency Fitch said it had placed a negative outlook on the the United States’ AAA rating. The country lost its AAA rating from Standard & Poor’s after the last debt crisis in 2011. Moody’s Investors Service still gives the country its highest rating.
The price of Treasury debt coming due in late October and November, which had been rising as default became less likely, reversed course at midday. At the end of the day, the price of the debt was at a low-point for the recent crisis — lower than it was before the recent bout of optimism broke out last Thursday. Yields, which move in the opposite direction, rose to the highest levels since 2008.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/bond-traders-shift-bets-with-political-wind/?partner=EXCITE&ei=5043
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That almost sounds obscene. 
