Government Bonds
Why Hitting the Debt Ceiling Would Be Very Bad for the U.S. Economy
WASHINGTON — Washington and Wall Street are bracing for a revival of brinkmanship over the nation’s statutory debt limit, raising fears that the fragile U.S. economy could be rattled by a calamitous self-inflicted wound. For years, Republicans have sought to tie spending cuts or other concessions from Democrats to their votes to lift the borrowing […]
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Fed President Backs Slowdown as Support Mounts for Smaller Rate Move
Susan M. Collins, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said she was leaning toward a quarter-point interest rate increase at the central bank’s next meeting — a slowdown that would signal a return to a normal pace of monetary policy adjustment after a year in which officials took rapid action to slow […]
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Fed’s Kashkari says officials are ‘a long way’ from backing off inflation fight.
Neel Kashkari, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, suggested on Friday that markets had gotten ahead of themselves in anticipating that the central bank — which has been raising interest rates swiftly this year — would soon begin to back off. “I’m surprised by markets’ interpretation,” Mr. Kashkari said in an interview. […]
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What Is the Yield Curve? Wall Street’s Recession Alarm Is Ringing.
Wall Street’s most talked about recession indicator is sounding its loudest alarm in two decades, intensifying concerns among investors that the U.S. economy is heading toward a slowdown. That indicator is called the yield curve, and it’s a way of showing how interest rates on various U.S. government bonds compare, notably three-month bills, and two-year […]
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At June Meeting, Fed Officials Worried Inflation Would Become Entrenched
Federal Reserve officials made their biggest interest rate increase since 1994 at their June meeting, after incoming inflation data spooked them, minutes from the meeting showed, with policymakers expressing concern that stubbornly persistent price pressures posed a “significant risk” of becoming a more permanent feature of the economy if the central bank did not act […]
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Fed Raises Interest Rate Half a Percentage Point, Largest Increase Since 2000
Deciding how quickly to remove policy support is a fraught exercise. Central bankers are hoping to move decisively enough to arrest the pop in prices without curbing growth so aggressively that they tip the economy into a deep downturn. Inflation F.A.Q. Card 1 of 6 What is inflation? Inflation is a loss of purchasing power […]
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Bond Market Unsettled by Inflation Worries
At one point this month, for instance, the S&P 500 had fallen more than 10 percent, into the range known in market jargon as a correction, and the Nasdaq composite index was down more than 20 percent, into what Wall Street labels bear market territory, though both have since rallied. Still, the S&P 500 on […]
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Inflation and Deficits Don’t Dim the Appeal of U.S. Bonds
Looking Ahead, and to the Past What would have to happen for these rock-bottom borrowing costs to rise significantly? There could be a crisis of confidence in Fed policy, a geopolitical crisis or steep increases in the Fed’s key interest rates in an attempt to kill off inflation. In a more easily imagined situation, some […]
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