Bond traders can count.

Interpretation 1: The tax deal will be good for U.S. economic growth, therefore investors can get out of safe, conservative Treasuries and go hunting for higher returns in other markets.

Interpretation 2: A few hundred billion in new spending and forgone tax revenues, with zero attention paid to compensatory cuts, is bad news for the U.S. deficit. The markets want higher returns to hold our bonds.

Which is it?