Foreign central banks have steadily increased their holdings of sterling, attracted by its high yield and liquid markets.

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They extract the lumps that yield 165, 000 barrels of liquid fuels a day, from high-octane airplane petrol to superclean diesel for cars, at Sasol's big Secunda plant, 80 kms southeast of Johannesburg.

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After all, other than its yield, is cash held in the form of liquid Treasury notes all the different than cash held in the vaults of the Federal Reserve, especially when the Federal Reserve stands ready to buy those Treasury notes from any and all too-big-to-fail sellers essentially on demand, if need be?

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Just as in the past, high yield bonds trade at an interest rate spread over Treasury bonds, which are more liquid and less subject to default risk.

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