by Calculated Risk on 3/05/2008 10:05:00 AM

From Bloomberg: Auction Bond Failures Near 70%; No Sign of Abating

Auction-rate bond failures show no sign of abating after investors abandoned the market for variable-rate municipal securities.

Almost 70 percent of the periodic auctions in the $330 billion market failed this week as investment banks stopped buying the securities investors didn't want. Yields on the debt averaged 6.52 percent as of Feb. 28, up from 3.63 percent before demand evaporated in January.

The beat goes on.