And once Spain has agreed a programme of economic reforms, the ECB now stands ready to intervene in secondary bond markets, pushing prices up and yields down.

ECONOMIST: The IMF needs to change tack if Spain asks for a bail-out

This can be a bond offering, a secondary stock offering or some combination thereof (a mixed shelf).

FORBES: The Shelf Offering Theory of QE2

Ultimately, a mechanism for licence-holders to trade their rights on a secondary market, similar to a bond or commodity market, could lead to more efficient allocation.

ECONOMIST: Spectrum policy

On September 9th, Hankook Tyre, a tyre maker with an investment-grade rating, issued 45 billion won-worth of three-year bonds at some 40 basis points (hundredths of a percentage point) above the average three-year bond yield in the secondary market.

ECONOMIST: South Korean bonds

Mutual funds tracking one of the Islamic indexes, publicly traded bond issuances and the trading of securitized bond issuances on a secondary market, and even U.S.public companies announcing their commitment to conducting their business according to the principles of Shariah are some of the more obvious examples.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Shariah��s Black Box

The bailout funds can also now buy bonds from the secondary market, or even participate in bond auctions, where, according to the guidelines, they would be permitted to buy as much as half of any new issue.

WSJ: Euro Zone Takes Stock of Crisis-Fighting Arsenal

Leaked on Wednesday, markets players expected the OMT, which consists of bond purchases by the ECB in the secondary market of short duration, coupled with strict conditionality (preferably under IMF surveillance).

FORBES: Move up http://i.forbesimg.com t Move down

But the effect of the new laws, says Michael Williams of the Bond Market Association in New York, could be simply to push secondary-market participants, fearful of liability, out of the sub-prime business altogether.

ECONOMIST: Lawmakers, state and federal, are mounting an attack