The great rates conundrum

Send us Fan Mail◆ EU’s securitization plan leaked ◆ The first new EM sovereign issuer for years ◆ Who can be sued for climate change?Interest rates coming down was supposed to be a sure bet. Now it’s not. Long government bond yields are rising, and not just in the US. Investors are worried — the term premium is climbing, which means it’s not enough now. It’s safest to stay away from duration.We try to diagnose this queasy market for high quality bonds. Are there any silver linings?MLex, a regulatory news service, has leaked two crucial draft proposals from the European Commission for how it will reform rules on securitization. Will they ease what the market feels is regulators’ stranglehold?It’s six years since the last new sovereign bond issuer appeared from a true emerging market, but the Kyrgyz Republic came this week. The bond was a hit — we explore what it means.You may not have heard of Huaraz — or Hamm. But you’ve probably heard of RWE, the German power company which has been called Europe’s biggest carbon emitter.This week an appeal court in Hamm, Germany denied a lawsuit by a farmer from Huaraz, Peru. He had sued RWE for damages for the risk to his home from global warming-induced flooding. But his supporters believe they achieved their aim: establishing that carbon emitters can be held liable for climate change.