The selloff to meet margin calls comes after the BOE confirmed it will end its emergency bond-buying program; reverberations were felt from Sydney to Frankfurt to New York.

The short-term IOUs look increasingly attractive compared with locking in longer-term borrowing in a market beset by turbulence.

Risk premiums on U.S. high-grade corporate bonds are climbing toward their highest levels in about two years.

The deadline that bond trades must be reported to FINRA within 15 minutes after execution feels like an eternity in the era when traders fret about microseconds.