According to Morningstar, over $17 billion has been pumped into funds that invest in Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) this year. Last year, the same group of funds saw a total net inflow of just under $10 billion.
Why the rush to TIPS? Fear of inflation.
Many investors and analysts believe inflation is on the horizon due to government spending.
The fear is that the increased spending will lead to higher inflation, and higher inflation will eat away at returns on other investments.
TIPS offer protection against inflation by providing an inflation-adjusted principal. The bonds pay a fixed rate coupon every 6 months, and as inflation (measured by CPI) changes …read more

How could one fail to notice we are under a financial car crusher. Markets tumbling, formerly rock solid investment banks wobbling like jello and banks like Citi and others axing staff.
So they call it downsizing, ecomomising, rationalization, belt tightening… you know the score, it’s a crunch.
Financial markets reacting to each other and mirroring each others emotions, like twelve year old school girls.
Whose fault is it? The speculators, the central bank, the fat corporations- who were on a ten year long grabfest. The Arabs hoarding their black gold?
All of the above?
I’ve been writing about how to survive this in …read more