They call it the low hanging fruit for a reason.
In the bond market it's low, lower and the lowest interest rates.
Unless there is some huge, nasty event causing a big economic downturn, it's been picked. It's, as they say, history. And as the WSJ noted today those low rates impact many things not the least of which are housing and corporate profit margins.
Sure, there's what Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is doing, a Ben Bernanke encore. But some see that leading to inflation and higher rates. According to many, gold prices soared on the news of his recent political success.
Debt has to be serviced. Low interest rates make that a less painful experience. The average cost for corporations servicing their debt if they took advantage of Bernanke's largesse dropped considerably during Big Ben's low hanging fruit days. And that difference was no small matter.
Down the road corporate profit margins may take an unexpected whack when they have to choose higher hanging fruit to finance their debt.
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