Indeed, brokerage stocks seem to have even less short interest, an indication that the sector is favored more than commercial banks, which have greater exposure to the hazards of interest-rate fluctuations.

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At present, the main ploy is fixing interest to low levels so the government can borrow money from its captive savers at below commercial rates, while eroding its debts via inflation rising faster than the rate of interest at which it borrows.

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The discipline forces commercial banks to do a pretty good job of matching assets and liabilities in interest rate sensitivity.

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They're still attractively priced. (Except for Pfizer, which sells near 40 times next year's numbers and is too rich.) Other enticing prospects lie with commercial finance companies that aren't oversensitive to interest rate changes--such as Heller and CIT, both of them very cheap.

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