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Interest rates worldwide might start falling as central banks meet this week

Mar 18, 2024
Switzerland may be the first to start rolling back the recent round of rate hikes.
The European Central Bank is expected to be among the first central banks to start cutting rates, says Sharyn O’Halloran at Columbia Business School.
Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images

The Fed's Beige Book offers a more colorful look behind the stats

Mar 7, 2024
The latest edition includes comments from community bankers, real estate brokers, farm-implement suppliers—you name it.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

When will the Fed cut rates? Senators are likely to put Jay Powell on the spot when he testifies

Mar 7, 2024
He says there's likely to be a rate cut this year, but he won't say when.
Above, Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Jerome Powell testifies before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.
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How independent are Fed officials from the politicians who appoint them?

Mar 6, 2024
Biden has mostly shied away from publicly criticizing the Fed chair, while Trump tweeted about the Fed hundreds of times while in office.
It’s a mistake to think the Federal Reserve is completely immune from politics, says Sarah Binder at George Washington University. Above, Fed Chair Jerome Powell testifies at a House Financial Services Committee hearing.
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"I think our fear of high inflation is well warranted," Minneapolis Fed president says

Feb 21, 2024
Neel Kashkari weighs in on the state of the economy and what's left to bring inflation down to the Fed's 2% target.
"I do the grocery shopping for my family. I started doing that when the pandemic hit, and I still have sticker shock," says Neel Kashkari, Minneapolis Fed president.
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What would be the point of a central bank digital currency?

Feb 16, 2024
Having a digital currency could make payments more efficient, but critics have raised privacy concerns.
One of the main reasons the U.S. has been looking into a central bank digital currency is that its economic competitors have been experimenting with their own.
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The Federal Reserve has been using monetary policy to slow down the economy. Congress and the White House have used fiscal policy to energize it. Above, Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
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Fed leaves interest rates unchanged, signals cuts are likely months away

Jan 31, 2024
“We want to see strong growth and a strong labor market,” said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
 Investors were hoping for a cut in March, but that now appears off the table.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Corporate bonds are in demand amid optimism and declining yields

Jan 30, 2024
Many investors see big companies as healthy and want to get into the market before the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates.
January has been a busy month in the corporate bond market, driven in part by expectations of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
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Alan Greenspan's greatest legacy may be the Fed's independence

Jan 10, 2024
Greenspan ignored political pressure to cut interest rates so that he could bring down inflation, says author Sebastian Mallaby.
Where did Alan Greenspan, above, go wrong? "In thinking that 2% inflation was the be-all and end-all," says Sebastian Mallaby, "because it turns out, of course, that economies can be disrupted by things other than the price of eggs going up too fast."
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