In the last couple of weeks, we saw a stronger than expected report on inflation, which dashed hopes that the pace of inflation had begun to slow down. In response, the Federal Reserve Bank, at its regular scheduled meeting last Tuesday and Wednesday, raised short-term interest rates by .75%, the largest increase since 1994, in…
Will Interest Rates Ever Rise Again? One of the byproducts of the Coronavirus recession has been a return to record low interest rates around the world, with many countries back at near zero or even negative interest rates. I want to spend a few minutes to highlight some challenges that we may see in the…
A Bear Market for Bonds? The 1st quarter of 2021 has been positive for stocks but a very poor quarter for some bond market segments. One of the most commonly followed bond benchmarks, the Barclays Aggregate Bond Index, has had its 4th worst quarterly performance since 1979 with a loss of 3.37%. The first quarter…
Will 2021 Be a Good Year for Investments? We have finally closed the books on 2020, and for most people it couldn’t have come soon enough. With all of the volatility from the economic impact of COVID-19 during the past year, many people are wondering if 2021 will be better for the financial markets. In…