It was a bizarre day with stocks rallying despite no real change in the macroeconomic or geopolitical climate.

Treasury bonds sold off as CPI (consumer price index) inflation figures pointed to the obvious. .

It almost felt as though today the Federal government decided to switch from buying Treasury bonds to buying stocks.

Or maybe stocks decided to turn green because of St. Patrick's day.

Regardless, most players took advantage of the "rally" to sell cash corporate bonds and lighten up on inventory in a patch of relative calm before the next storm.

The "double-speak" coming out of Japan points to a rudderless leadership and a painful recovery ahead.

The sharp drop in the dollar / yen confirmed what many expect: a repatriation of Japanese funds back to the homeland.

The Libyan situation is progressing at a snail's pace, almost as if foreign powers want to see Qaddafi finish the job in Benghazi before intervening to overthrow the Colonel.

In the corporate space, Russian telecom Vimpelcom is set to acquire Italy's Wind Telecom.

That Russian businesses are pushing overseas and diversifying should surprise no-one; there have also been extensive moves to make Russia more attractive for foreign investment.

The new issue pipeline was extremely light with several recent new issues trading very weak in the secondary market and so most issuers are treading carefully.

Canadian CCDQ (Caisse Centrale Desjardins du Quebec) decided to brave the markets and issue $1 billion in covered bonds.

Gas distributor Sempra Energy sold $500 million of 3 year debt at +100 and $300 of 3 year FRNs (floating rate notes).