Stocks closed in the green (positive) today but there was still a sense of unease hanging over bond traders.
Treasury bonds rallied hard first thing out of the gates with a decent amount of foreign real money buying interest.
By the end of the day Treasury bonds had given back much of their gains.
In the morning corporate credit spreads trended wider (bond prices were lower) but closed off the wide prints by the afternoon as stocks turned positive.
The Euro gave up a little ground against the U.S. dollar but the European common currency still feels overvalued (and manipulated) considering the plethora of debt problems facing the continent.
Bonds for Italian banks took a thrashing today.
The market's focus may shift from Greece to Italy (skipping Spain for the time being) over the next few weeks.
The end is near for Libya's Colonel Qaddafi; the rebels in the East will soon have the materiel and logistical support necessary to oust the Colonel. .
Yet oil continues to trade at $97 a barrel.
New issues were relatively light.
Japan Finance Corp, an agency issuer, sold $2 billion of bonds at +64.3 basis points spread over Treasury (mid-swap + 34 bps).
The agency issue was over-subscribed as investors continue to look to diversify away from Europe.