Does the Pandemic Limit Biden’s Fiscal Options?
Our guest columnists, from the Urban Institute, examine the impact of the pandemic on the Congressional Budget Office's projections for the state of US government finances in 2030. ...
Interest rates
Watching the Fed Watch Covid-19
The Fed's tea leaves are perplexing our guest columnist, an economist at the University of Oregon. Whether we see 'quantitative easing' may depend on how bad the pandemic resurges...
Federal Reserve issues FMOC statement
The Federal Open Market Committee 'decided to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 0.25% and expects it will be appropriate to maintain this...
Searching for Yield? Here’s Where to Look
Bond gurus Anne Mathias of Vanguard and Rick Rieder of BlackRock spoke at the Morningstar Investment Conference last week. Emerging markets, real estate debt, and asset-backed securities are...
‘Cacophony’ from the Fed: Duy
'The Fed-speak has been a tad cacophonous this week. Let’s try to cut through the noise,' writes economist Tim Duy of the U. of Oregon. But what is the...
Private-equity firms will keep buying life insurers: Cerulli
'A takeover of general account assets by a PE firm gives the insurer, in effect, an affiliated PE manager and the fee advantages typically seen in co-investing scenarios,' a...
Fed Keeps Credit Throttle Wide Open
'The commitment to holding rates at near zero until the economy is both at maximum employment AND inflation is at 2% is the unexpected enhanced forward guidance,' writes...
Imagining the Post-Pandemic Economy
The federal government’s deficit will eventually need to be brought down, but it will nonetheless be appropriate for the government to spend more than it would have spent in...
Fed Puts Yield Curve Control on the Shelf
'The Fed remains focused on downside risks but as of yet is unwilling to act further to support the recovery. Maybe they won’t need to,' writes our guest columnist,...
A Different Way to Think about the Inflation Rate
'The Fed has said absolutely, for sure, don’t even ask, that they aren’t thinking about thinking about thinking about raising interest rates anytime soon,' writes this Fed-watcher at the...
Low rates are ‘key obstacle’ for U.S. life/annuity firms: AM Best
Life insurers have exited, re-priced or de-emphasized their most interest rate-sensitive business lines, including individual and group annuities, the ratings firm said in a new report.
Fed Frets Over Fiscal Cliff
'The Fed intends to maintain accommodative financial conditions for years,' writes our guest columnist, an economist at the University of Oregon.
Odds Favor Yield Curve Control
'A turn toward yield curve control doesn’t necessarily preclude the Fed from doing more quantitative easing. I expect they would use the tools in tandem,' writes our guest columnist,...
We Could Use Some Inflation
The Treasury said this week that it will borrow (and spend) about $3 trillion this quarter, to cover its stimulus promises. Where does that money come from and where...
Fed chairman promises to do ‘whatever it takes’
'A wave of unnecessary insolvencies could do long-term damage to the productive capacity of the economy. That’s a risk,' Fed chairman Jerome Powell (in photo) said Wednesday.
The ‘Fed Put’ Hurts Annuities—and Retirees
Low rates encourage excessive risk-taking. But the Fed keeps accommodating market sell-offs, which sets up a new round of boom and bust. Retirees (and the annuity issuers who serve...
At These Rates, Why Bother to Save?
Negative real interest rates have become a disincentive to personal savings, especially among lower-income Americans who will rely heavily on Social Security and Medicaid anyway, this team of economists...
RIJ Interview: Will Fuller of Lincoln Financial
In the third in our series of interviews with annuity industry leaders, we talk with Lincoln Financial Group executive VP Will Fuller. He was recently honored as an 'Industry...
Rates would be negative without government debt and deficits
'Had real interest rates not gone down over the last half century, savings would have exceeded investment in OECD countries by between 9 and 14 percentage points of GDP,'...
‘Greatest Economy in American History’ still needs Fed help
'Leverage among corporations is historically high. We’re monitoring that and taking appropriate steps,' Fed chair Jerome H. Powell told reporters Wednesday after announcing a third quarter-point hike in the...
