on the rise

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check us out on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/PrimeInterest Follow us @ http://twitter.com/PerianneRT http://twitter.com/EnglishPI Here's what's in your Prime Interest today: Bubbles, bubbles, everywhere. Financial markets are becoming too buoyant -- according to some members of the Federal Open Market Committee, as expressed in today's FOMC minutes. It seems junk bonds are on the rise, as investors are chasing yields beyond the zero point two percent offered by their local banks. But wasn't that the point, Mr. Chairman? Be careful what you wish for. And speaking of Chairman Bernanke, he spoke today in front of Congress. It didn't take much to move the markets when he soft-balled the possibility of so-called "tapering" later in the year. This would be the much-anticipated wind-down of quantitative easing. The final act of Kabuki for the day was a Jon Hilsenrath piece. The Fed-spokesman -- err, Wall Street Journal reporter -- did a 180 from his prior pieces a couple of weeks ago. Previously, he said the Fed had mapped out a strategy for the mystical tapering process. Well, today, he simply said the process will not be predictable. Great job, Fed! After twelve speeches, one major FOMC release, and one WSJ planted story, the markets are now thoroughly confused. And as most of our viewers are keenly aware of by now, Primer Interest Producer Bob English and Perianne traveled to the Bitcoin conference in San Jose, California over the weekend. They got a chance to speak to many of the movers and shakers in the up and coming crypto-currency realm. Bob interviewed Chris Larsen, CEO and co-founder of OpenCoin, which is developing Ripple. Today we also talk to Anthony Freda, an award winning artist. His work has appeared in some of the most popular publications including Rolling Stone, Business Week, TIME, Playboy, and the Trends Journal. He has a passion for anti-war issues and too big to fail corporations. Finally, after Tim Cook's testimony on the Hill yesterday, much talk has been made about the viability of Apple's tax strategy. And investors in Apple's recent $17 billion bond offering are feeling a bit of pain. These bonds were part of Apple's strategy to pay existing stock investors dividends, without tapping Apple's substantial foreign cash holdings -- a taxable event. The bonds have lost $281 million dollars since being issued last month. But the maker of the iPhone remains confident it will keep its ability to maneuver along international borders as it sees fit.