fed rates

It was almost a year ago when a Fed meeting helped send stock indices plunging into bear or near-bear territory. The Fed’s decision back then to raise rates for a fourth time in 2018 put new interest rate fear into an already shaky market. By Christmas Eve, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) was...

Yesterday, Federal Reserve officials decided to add some additional stimulus into the economy, settling on a 25 basis point reduction in the federal funds rate at the conclusion of the July 30-31 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. This marks the first reduction in interest rates since...

In the background of the volatility the past 15 months, one great shift in the stock market has gone overlooked, or at least underappreciated. Since Jan. 26, 2018 – the highest-valuation high of the bull market thus far – high-beta companies have underperformed both the S&P 500 as...

Bill Gross, the notable bond investor, thinks Friday's U.S. jobs report isn't as "hunky-dory" as it may seem. Speaking to Bloomberg Television on Friday, Gross noted that while Friday's job report showed that employers added 287,000 jobs, the jobless rate also rose one-fifth of a percentage point...

According to a research report by analysts at Deutsche Bank, there is now a "broad-based consensus" that the Fed will "take the plunge" and raise rates in December. The analysts noted that the U.S. economy is strong enough to withstand higher rates. The analysts added the Fed will gradually...

Minutes from the Federal Reserve's October meeting suggested that "some participants" felt that the conditions for policy normalization process had already been met. The minutes added that "most participants" anticipated conditions could "well be met" by December to justify a rate hike. Speaking...

Steven Alexopoulos of JPMorgan commented in a note that the Fed's recent meeting demonstrated a "very dovish tone." Alexopoulos suggested investors trim exposure to banking stocks, especially asset sensitive firms. Alexopoulos downgraded shares of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA) to Neutral from...

Matt O'Connor of Deutsche Bank offered investors three names within the U.S. banking space to invest in following the recent pullback in bank stocks. O'Connor noted that bank stocks are down 13 percent since their highs in late July and have underperformed the 9 percent decline in the S&P 500...

Ian Weissman of Credit Suisse commented in a note on Thursday that REITs stocks are "attractively valued" relative to the "strong underlying performance" and valuation of real estate across the United States. This, coupled with a "constructive" macroeconomic backdrop...

The US economy is unlikely to go into a double-dip recession, but the recovery will be anemic, said Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher on CNBC today. "It is sort of a post-traumatic shock syndrome" that the economy goes through and it will take a long time to cure,” Fisher said. On...