Interest rates

A big date on the economic calendar this week: the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee meeting Dec. 12 and 13. We’ll find out Wednesday whether it’s raising short-term interest rates again. An important piece of the economic puzzle landed on today with the November jobs report. It showed unemployment at a low 4.1 percent and […]

Four big banks (JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, PNC, Wells Fargo) reported earnings today, all beating expectations, especially JPMorgan, which posted its best quarter ever. That wind in the banks’ sails comes in the form of higher interest rate levels after three straight rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. That means banks get to charge you more […]

The yield on the 10-year treasury has been tumbling for the past week. Another way of saying that is: That is strong demand for these bonds, which causes their price to rise and the interest rates they pay to fall. And that is telling us something about investor thinking — about the Federal Reserve, the president and […]