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 Bank of Canada is cutting its overnight rate target by half a percentage point to 0.75 per cent in response to COVID-19. The central bank said Friday the unscheduled rate decision was due to the pandemic and its impact on the economy, adding that lower oil prices, even since its last scheduled rate decision […]
In the end, the mighty bull was slayed by a tiny virus. The longest bull market in U.S. history can now be said to have lasted almost 11 years and rewarded investors with a return of 529 per cent based on the performance of the S&P 500, including dividends. The bull officially ran from March […]
In a surprise move, the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by a sizeable half-percentage point Tuesday in an effort to support the economy in the face of the spreading coronavirus. Chairman Jerome Powell said at a news conference that the virus “will surely weigh on economic activity both here and abroad for some […]
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 […]
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 […]
There has been a lot of buzz about negative interest rates lately, as the idea that you would have to pay governments to borrow your money seems to turn the very foundation of finance on its head. But that is exactly what is happening right now for trillions of dollars in the world’s bond markets. […]
The Bank of Canada is keeping its key interest rate target on hold at 1.75 per cent and forecasting a slower-than-expected start for the Canadian economy in 2020. The central bank says in its latest forecast that the Canadian economy will grow by 1.6 per cent this year, down 0.1 of a percentage point from […]
The days of monetary policy as the most effective tool for stimulating the economy are over, as central banks around the world are increasingly limited in the measures they can implement, according to AllianceBernstein’s chief global economist. “The ability for central banks to do more is constrained, particularly in . . . Europe and Japan,” […]
Sweden’s central bank has ended a five-year experiment of keeping its benchmark interest rate below zero, a policy that other countries have also adopted to try to improve economic growth. The country’s central bank, called the Riksbank, said Thursday it had decided to raise its benchmark interest rate to zero from -0.25 per cent, where […]