The yield of ten-year US Treasury Notes has surged by 34 basis points since the middle of October as market participants started adopting a more upbeat outlook on the economy and shied away from safe-haven assets.

Unsurprisingly, the following comes from the minutes of the meeting of November 4 of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association: “Several members noted the graph discussing net fixed income supply in 2009 and 2010, and how issuance will ramp up dramatically in 2010. Federal Reserve purchases have taken an enormous amount of supply out of the market this past year across fixed income markets, but next year, financial markets should expect even greater issuance with no support. Such an outcome could pressure rates.” With quantitative easing set to expire during Q1, it is difficult not to see long-term rates rising, unless the economy falls

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Step Right Up Obama – Get your TARP Funds here…

by William Patalon III, Executive Editor, Money Morning

Editor’s Note: Yesterday, Money Morning took another look at the TARP controversy and some of the newest developments. As Obama has asked President Bush to prompt Congress to release the second part of these funds, we feel it’s something investors need to keep an eye on. The impact of the original stimulus has helped stabilize our banks, but it also rewrote the playing field. And its these kinds of fundamental shifts that all investors need to be aware of.

Obama Requests Release of Second Half of TARP

On Monday, President-elect Barack Obama asked Congress to release the remaining $350 billion in bank bailout money that’s part of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

In a letter addressed to the leadership of both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives,

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How has the US structured itself in terms of equities and debt instruments, and how large is each component?

The financial news streams us a constant supply of fragmentary numbers about this or that troubled asset category or rescue package. Since they are all in hundreds of billions or even a few trillions of Dollars, it’s hard to get a handle on the relative significance of the numbers.

This article provides the comprehensive scope of equities and debt instruments in the United States.  That can serve as a sort of yardstick to gauge the relative size of other numbers that are tossed around.

According to the September research report from the SIFMA (Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association), as of June 2008, the US capital structure was:

Equities 40.6% (proxy VTI) Money Markets 8.2% Municipal Bonds 5.2% (proxy MUB) Other Bonds 46% (proxy AGG).

“Other Bonds” consists of bonds issued by the Treasury, federal agencies, and corporations, as

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