Toward the end of that year, expectations for long-term earnings growth began to turn down. At about the same time, equity premiums apparently began to rise. The consequent reversal in stock prices that has occurred over the past couple of years has been particularly pronounced in the high-tech sectors of the economy.
The MLF contributed to a strong and rapid recovery in municipal securities markets and thereby helped a wide variety of state and local governments and their instrumentalities issue debt with interest rates at or near historic lows.