Confronted with an economy gripped by recession and high unemployment, the Federal Reserve made clear Wednesday that it will keep supplying all the help it can by buying bonds to maintain low borrowing rates and forecasting no rate hike through 2022. The Fed has cut its benchmark short-term rate to near zero. Keeping its rate […]
The U.S. Treasury Department is detailing how it plans to borrow a record-breaking $2.99 trillion in debt this quarter, which will include issuing a 20-year bond for the first time since 1986. The Treasury faces an unprecedented need for credit because of the trillions of dollars the government is spending to deal with the impact […]
Devastated by the coronavirus, the U.S. economy is sinking. And the plunge is accelerating. Now, as some businesses in a few states start to trickle back to work, hopes are beginning to arise that the economy, damaged as it is, might be poised to rebound by the second half of the year. If more employees […]
The U.S. dollar is overvalued and, if history has any lessons for investors, it’s that the dollar is set for a multi-year fall, according to Mondrian Investment Partners Ltd. “The way that we look at currencies generally is to take a valuation approach,” says Kevin Fenwick, portfolio manager for global fixed income and currency at […]
The Federal Reserve took massive emergency action Sunday to try to help the economy withstand the coronavirus by slashing its benchmark interest rate to near zero and saying it would buy $700 billion in Treasury and mortgage bonds. The Fed’s surprise announcement signalled its rising concern that the viral outbreak will depress economic growth in […]
The fast-moving coronavirus isn’t just confounding health officials. It’s also bedevilling policymakers and central bankers who are struggling to assess the economic damage from an outbreak that’s reached 37 countries and territories, infected 80,000 people and killed 2,700 worldwide. They don’t know where or how fast the virus will spread. They can’t draw on clear […]
As financial professionals, we deal with money daily, but few of us have the time to step back and think about what exactly it is that we are investing, trading, or risk managing. Money is just there in a way similar to gravity or oxygen. This lack of scrutiny has allowed money to become a […]
Just as the outlook for the global economy had been brightening in recent months, a new threat has suddenly emerged in the form of the viral outbreak in China. That was the cautionary message that Chairman Jerome Powell delivered Wednesday after the Federal Reserve held interest rates low after its latest policy meeting. Speaking at […]
The Federal Reserve is expected to send a clear message when its latest policy meeting ends Wednesday: Interest rates will likely stay ultra-low for the foreseeable future. Behind that message is a view that has gained support at the Fed as the U.S. economic expansion has entered a record 11th year: That contrary to long-standing […]
Defined benefit pension plans are lowering their long-term return expectations, according to research from U.S. consulting firm, NEPC. According to the NEPC’s survey of corporate and healthcare DB pensions, a third of plan sponsors now have a return assumption of six per cent or less, compared with 20 per cent that said the same in […]