The current spreads are far wider than the most liquid parts of the European bond market.
Then, with much of the European bond market effectively neutralised by the long-term purchase of government debt by the ECB (we are paid not to think about the market value, says one fund manager), you make a large part of the world's debts difficult to value.
Unlike in, for example, the European sovereign bond market, there is no sign of contagion in the US muni market.
For one thing, U.S. policy makers have noticed the European covered bond market has weathered the financial storm relatively well.
The fund is a crucial part of the ECB's plan, announced last week, to buy bonds to help European countries when market forces push bond interest rates too high.
The risk must be that whatever government emerges will only prove an interlude before a fresh crisis, in which external pressure once again is required to force Rome to confront the Italian economy's structural shortcomings, perhaps in return for a deal with the European Central Bank to support the government bond market under its Outright Market Transactions program.
Such sentiments mark a significant departure from the role the German bond market has played since the European debt crisis first exploded with concerns about Greece in the first half of 2010.
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No sooner had the European Central Bank intervened this summer to stabilise its bond market than the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, retreated from his austerity programme, under pressure from within his coalition.
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At this writing, the Soviets have successfully concluded seven or eight bond offerings in the West since first entering the European securities market three years ago.
"Expectations of bank support now are getting priced into the market, " said the head of European sovereign-bond trading at a global bank.
It has been a long and strong bond, cemented by the country's strong reliance on the European export market.
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The failure of the German bond-market could be a wake-up-call to European leaders to take more drastic action to prevent the crisis.
There was an Italian government 10-year bond auction Wednesday that was closely scrutinized by the market place to gauge European investor risk appetite.
European banks would be more than happy to lend money to most of the companies that are currently tapping the bond market.
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