Stocks managed to close in positive territory even as consumer confidence dropped on higher gasoline prices.

Credit has been lagging somewhat with the IG (investment grade) CDS (credit default swap) index closing slightly wider as dealers remained better buyers of protection.

Volumes are relatively light in credit with technical factors driving the markets; the Dell and Home Depot corporate bond new issues traded poorly in the secondary markets.

Talk continues about funds possibly moving out of fixed income and into equities.

Why this is news or why this is being talked about now is anybody's guess but the trend has been clear for more than a few weeks now.

With corporate earnings likely to be positive and credit spreads already very tight, there does appear to be more upside to stocks on a relative basis.

Treasury bonds sold off and oil traded near $105 a barrel while the U.S. dollar closed at 1.41 against the Euro.

In new issues, Nordea Eiendomskreditt (wholly owned by Norway's Nordea Bank) issued $2 billion in covered bonds backed wholly by Norwegian residential mortgages.

The Nordea bonds came out in two pieces: $1 billion of 3 year FRNs (floating rate notes) at +42 and $1 billion of fixed rate notes.

With Norway's natural resource base and non-membership of the Euro, investors are likely to find the Nordea issues interesting.

Citigroup joined the FRN party (all the rage with rate risk-averse real-money investors) and sold $750 million of 3 year FRNs at +93.

HSBC sold $2.5 billion of 10 year notes at +165; the issue traded 5-6 bps tighter in the grey market soon after.

MetLife sold $1 billion of 3 year FRNs at +90.

Time Warner joined the bond party selling $2 billion of debt to partially fund its stock buy-back program: $1 billion 10 year at +140 and $1 billion 30 year at +180.