[cowpip]

I have a question for the audience at large, and especially for those with a little more knowledge in the fundamentals.

Not very long ago, the market was fixated on asset backed commercial paper. As I recall, it was contracting and was causing a lot of worry. That topic then died out over time as the sub-prime mess spread into other newer areas of concern.

But a report out of Reuters today states that this last week, commercial paper shrunk for another week (that makes the 5th week running) and asset backed paper shrunk again as well (making it 4 weeks for that stat).

I'm curious if anyone here believes this old can of worms might come back to haunt the market? Milliard - are you guys paying any attention to these fundamentals?

There are rumors that the commercial paper may be shrinking due to concerns regarding auto and related loans - which is currently thought to be a possible "new shoe" to drop.