GOVT News and Press, iShares U.S. Treasury Bond ETF From 07/28/19

Transcript Drivers of Gold in 2019 We've seen a significant shift in Fed [U.S. Federal Reserve] policies over the course of 2019. Remember, back in December the Fed was raising rates. This year, they have become more dovish, and at the last FOMC [Federal Open Market Committee] meeti...

The Federal Reserve is not an intelligence: it does not think. Individual members of the Federal Open Market Committee, however, do think. And the center of gravity of their individual thoughts now runs something like this: 1980-1985 was a disaster: 3 x 6 x 0.5 = 9%-point-years of lost jobs...

So much will be written this weekend about the FOMC meeting Wednesday, but here is the snapshot of the CME fed funds future contract probabilities as of Friday, July 26th, 2019. Sure looks like we will get a 25 bp reduction on Wednesday, July 31, at 1:00 pm. The money markets have already ...

It's the end of July and has been hot as hell for much of the world this week, around 107 Fahrenheit in Paris yesterday! So I'll do my best to keep this look into economy and markets a bit shorter than my usual. When economies and markets are near a turning point, often the headlines tell a ...

For weeks I've been struggling to come up with a post that puts recent events and trends into a coherent perspective. It's been difficult, however, since for every positive there seems to be a negative. Optimism here, pessimism there. Good fundamentals (e.g., great liquidity, very low credit a...

Hooray! We did it folks. We raised the debt ceiling again and averted a self imposed default on US government debt. And to celebrate this joyous occasion I wanted to write my 3,589th article explaining some of the never-ending misconceptions about government debt and borrowing. And to do that ...

Once upon a time, there was a time, believe it or not, when a country, or a company's, financial condition determined the interest rate, and the yield, of the borrowing entity. Ratings also came into play and were also a significant determining factor. As to the Fed, and the other central bank...

Originally published July 26, 2019 Just think of it. We now have $13.4 trillion in negatively yielding debt. In all of recorded history, we have never had bonds with negative yields before. It is a milestone. It is a first. It is a first of firsts. It is a huge boon for borrowers, as ...

The economic calendar is massive, and that is just the start. Earnings season is in full swing. US/China trade talks resume. And finally, the FOMC announces its interest rate decisions. Expect plenty of commentary on the individual news items, but the real question is: How deftly can the m...

The Fed is about to change course officially this week beginning with at least a 25-basis cut in the Funds rate. The last five times the Fed cut rates "outside of recessions-including 1984, 1987, 1989, 1995 and 1998-the S&P 500 rose an average of 11% over the subsequent six months and 16% ...