Ever since the abrupt interest-rate spike over the summer, bankers have been biting their fingernails. Large lenders from Washington Mutual Inc. to Countrywide Financial Corp. have trimmed their profit forecasts, mortgage companies have gone belly-up, and big investors in mortgage-backed securi- ties have lost their shirts. Rates have eased a bit since then, but the nervousness remains. "We're likely to see a fairly large interest-rate move in the not-too-distant future," says Jeffrey E. Gundlach, who manages $32 billion in mortgage-backed securities for TCW, an investment firm in Los Angeles. "It can get much worse." Rates have shot up before, of course, but this time things are different. They're coming off 45-year lows, after creating an unprecedented boom in mortgage refinancing, and record issuance of mortgage-backed securities (MBS). The first taste of just how dangerous the shock can be came after the Federal Reserve cut short-term rates by 0.25 percentage points on June 25, less than expected. Bond prices plunged, causing Treasury and MBS yields to surge. In the quickest move since 1927, the yields on 10-year bonds hit 4.5% by the end of August, from its low of 3.1% on June 13. In the span of 60 days, the Lehman Brothers Treasury Index lost 11.6%.
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机译：自从夏季突然出现利率飙升以来，银行家一直在咬指甲。从华盛顿互惠银行（Washington Mutual Inc.）到Countrywide Financial Corp.的大型贷款人已经下调了利润预期，抵押贷款公司破产了，抵押贷款支持证券的大投资者也破产了。自那时以来，利率有所下降，但紧张情绪依然存在。杰弗里·冈拉克（Jeffrey E. Gundlach）说：“在不久的将来，我们可能会看到相当大的利率变动。”他为洛杉矶投资公司TCW管理着320亿美元的抵押支持证券。 “情况可能变得更糟。”费率当然已经飙升了，但是这次情况有所不同。在抵押贷款再创纪录的空前繁荣和抵押贷款支持证券（MBS）发行创纪录之后，它们已跌至45年低点。在美联储于6月25日将短期利率降低0.25个百分点（低于预期）之后，人们首次感受到了震惊有多危险。债券价格暴跌，导致国债和抵押债券的收益率飙升。以1927年以来最快的速度，到8月底，十年期债券的收益率从6月13日的低点3.1％升至4.5％。在60天的时间里，雷曼兄弟国债指数下跌了11.6％。
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