It had been a little bit since I actually looked at the yield curve, so I went to Bloomberg online. (I don't have a real Bloomberg terminal, as I actually do zero trading and there is all the information in the world that I can really use on the Bloomberg website. And if I need information from a Bloomberg terminal, I have so many friends who can get it that I can't see why I should spend $25-$30,000 a year).
 
All that unnecessary information aside, in the process of looking at bond rates I came across this article buried deep in the back side of Bloomberg. It's about finding a substitute for LIBOR rates.
 
Did you know somebody was actually looking at replacing LIBOR? I didn't. And it seems they are making progress. It's not bug-free and there are issues, and it's not even going to be adopted within the next two years (my guess), but I can actually see this coming to a trading floor and contractual obligations near you.
 
Since many of us are continually doing contracts based on LIBOR, it might behoove us to start writing in something that says we will use LIBOR or whatever the generally accepted equivalent is, with something about smooth transitions. I can't imagine they would do something that would deliver a shock to a practice that is so intrinsically important to the markets and contracts; but then again, they've done a lot of things that I couldn't imagine. Sometimes it pays to look way out over the horizon and wonder what the heck these sons of B’s are actually doing to us.
 
Short article but worth putting on the back burner of your brain.