Even if the 10-year Treasury drifts only a little higher to the 3.0% area in the next 18 months, there should be a silver lining when the markets settle down and find a new equilibrium. Older fixed-income investors who have been the primary victims of financial repression for the last five years may actually be able to earn a paltry return on the safest bond investments. And stocks of numerous financial companies like Charles Schwab & Co. already are moving higher in anticipation of the day when the brokerage will no longer have charge itself $160 million every quarter to waive expenses on its money market funds so customers can earn 0.1% annually.

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