Saks bonds with a 97TK8 coupon due October 2011, for example, are now yielding 7.6%, or 287 basis points (2.9 percentage points) over seven-year Treasurys, compared with a 700-basis-point spread to Treasurys four years ago.
Still, with tenyear Treasurys yielding less than 3%, the spread between MLPs and Treasurys is 3.4 percentage points, or 340 basis points, above the 15-year average of 310 basis points.