Staggered maturities of high yield debt

• Congress proposing legislation which would end the Fed's supervisory role and limit it's ability to be an unlimited lender of last resort. Large bailouts would have to be deliberated, but critics say not letting the organization work fast enough would be a disaster
• Record levels of corporate financing activity are more than making up for sluggish M&A, syndicated lending. Gains made by flow business (contrasted to proprietary trading). Largest in Europe: DB, Credit Suisse, Barclays Capital. US: Goldman, JP Morgan
• OTC derivatives market on the upswing: rate and FX derivatives: investors positioning themselves for an uncertain economic outcome
• NYSE average daily volume: 3.5 billion shares
• 2,700bn commercial mortgages due in the next five years (peak 2011)
• 1,500bn leveraged finance debt (peak 2014)
• In contrast to previous credit cycles: speculative grade debt maturities are staggered: lenders have more time to work though exposures, but system will take a longer time to clear out