I have not posted anything from my friend Chris Wood for some time, but his latest piece has struck a chord. The reach for yield is ubiquitous. Plus, he gives us some good solid analyis on Korea. “But whatever the motivating factor, the demand is coming from investors with capital seeking to generate yield, and often this is being done by taken on lots of gearing. Thus, GREED & fear has been hearing from financially well-endowed friends all year that private bankers in Asia have become increasingly aggressive offering gearing on corporate bond purchases to their clients. Thus, loan to value ratios of up to 80% are apparently commonplace on bonds seen as safe. And the willingness to lend money in this manner has grown as confidence has grown, courtesy of the likes of Ben Bernanke, that US short-term interest rates will remain at zero for longer.