US credit markets are not really working as "markets" anymore, properly speaking, because a single special buyer, the Fed, is setting both risk-free rates and c

US credit markets are not really working as "markets" anymore, properly speaking, because a single special buyer, the Fed, is setting both risk-free rates and credit spreads for all corporate borrowers. Just by announcing it is willing to buy corporate bond ETFs, the Fed has become the very visible hand of the bond market. The "price" of a corporate bond no longer means what you think it means. It is now determined by the Fed's willingness to buy bond ETFs for reasons that may or may not have anything to do with the creditworthiness of individual companies. This is both utterly shocking and completely predictable.