After last year's stunning failure, bonds show up for safety

Suddenly, bonds are again living up to their reputation as the safe part of an investor’s portfolio. As stocks sank worldwide over the last week on worries about the banking system, bonds shot up in price. That offered some protection to any investor with a mixed set of stocks and bonds in their portfolio, as most advisers suggest. It's a sharp turnaround from last year. That's when bonds plunged in tandem with stocks on fears about the highest inflation in generations and what the Federal Reserve was doing about it.