NEW YORK — The credit markets, long a shadowy and little- understood part of the financial system for many investors, turned into headline makers during 2008 simply because they stopped working.
And, at the start of the new year, they’re still far from a level that anyone would call healthy — banks aren’t lending freely despite the government’s $700 billion rescue package. Yields on short-term Treasurys are close to zero, indicating how fearful investors are.
“I’m still waiting for the credit markets to open up,” said Scott Fullman, director of derivatives investment strategy for WJB Capital Group in New York. “There’s been some improvement, but not that kind everyone has been waiting for. The credit situation will still be the big story in 2009.”
The paralysis that swept over the credit markets after the mortgage crisis felled Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September was a major contributor to a two-month plunge on Wall Street and has helped exacerbate the recession.
