And here's a link to a bigger version.
It's basically a measure of investors willingness to take on a minimal amount of risk. You can see that it peaks in early October.
It's noteworthy because it's back under 100 points, indicating that investors are willing to invest in things slightly more risky than treasury bills. That is a good indication that the financial crisis, at least, is subsided and we are now left with just a really bad recession.
The treasury department got dragged into doing the right kind of rescue late, and there are plenty of things to be annoyed with in the TARP, but it would appear to have gotten the job done. Now, in dealing with the effects outside of finance, we have to hope that Congress can act quickly to pull off some sort of fiscal stimulus (lending cheap money to the states should be priority A1).
Slogan for 2009: "We Could Do Worse But We'd Really Have to Try!"
