Rising Rates Start to Squeeze Consumers and Companies

The unusually low interest rates of the last three years have been an enormous boon to almost every corner of the American economy.

They have provided consumers with dirt-cheap mortgages that fed the real estate boom. They have supplied easy credit to companies and investment firms, propelling stocks and corporate profits to record highs and fueling a buyout binge.

Now that party may be coming to an end.

Yields on the 10-year Treasury note — a benchmark that influences many long-term interest rates, including home mortgages — jumped sharply on Tuesday and are up significantly in the last month. The fallout is likely to be widespread, and felt most immediately by homeowners and people looking to buy a house.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/15/business/15bond.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin