Risk assets are taking a nosedive around the world on this shocking twist, half the banks in Italy are halted and credit default swaps have blown out to all-time record spreads.

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If lower-priced Chinese tourbillon watches flood the market then it is only a matter of time before this sentiment spreads.

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For one thing, given how low government-bond yields and corporate credit spreads have fallen, the time of plenty in the bond market may have passed.

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Indeed, there may be little spread of risk between countries for much of the time, but there are spikes of spreads between different countries, as we've seen in the eurozone in the past four years.

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When things go wrong, everyone tries to hit the exits at the same time and the simultaneous large increases in credit spreads accentuate the banking crisis.

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And plain old recession-related predicaments were sufficient for spreads of blue chips like Ford, AOL Time Warner and Motorola to widen to Grand Canyon proportions.

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Not even critics who complained that bailed-out banks were given free money by the Fed to generate fat interest spreads, then reinstated dividends to make their stocks rise in time for bonuses to be paid out, are saying anything about closing the barn door after the cows have gotten out.

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But with yields on ten-year Treasurys stuck near a skimpy 4.2% and credit spreads tight compared with historic norms, this has not been a happy time for fixed incomes.

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The information on wholesale bond prices and spreads is non-transparent and difficult for retail investors to find on a real time or near real time basis, resulting in investors being forced to trust the bond Broker-Dealer, resulting in high markup or markdown costs.

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