Interest Rates

First the Bear Sterns bailout, then the bailout of mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae...and last night the announcement that the Fed was stepping up to the plate again and bailing out the world's largest insurer, American International Group, Inc. (AIG; NYSE/AIG). Why bail out AIG and…

The reality of an economic slowdown in the United States and globally is something to really consider seriously. On Monday, stock markets collapsed, with the DOW down over 500 points or four percent in a massive one-day sell-off. The selling was triggered by the situation at Lehman Brothers…

It's very early in the current earnings season, but, so far, the numbers haven't been too bad. In fact, quite a few Dow companies reported first quarter earnings that beat consensus estimates. Many corporate outlooks that have been reported are not too shabby either, which is helping investor…

What started as a brush fire in the U.S. subprime lending market now is spreading like a forest fire in Southern Europe -- fast and furious. Global stock markets have more or less wiped out all of their 2007 gains, and then some, and everyone is wondering whether…

The subprime concerns continue to drive volatile trading in the U.S. markets. The Federal Reserve continues to support the banking system and try to prevent any collapse. After injecting billions into the banking system last week, the central bank infused the banking system with another $17.25 billion on…

A few weeks ago, my teenage son showed me an online virtual world, aptly called "Second Life." It is literally a parallel world where people can create perfect, dream lives that would otherwise be impossible in the real world. Let me tell you, it is very, very easy…

Markets are clearly trading on apprehension, as there remain concerns relating to the U.S. subprime mortgage market along with the state of the U.S. credit market and its potential negative impact on the economy. On Friday, the Federal Reserve cut the discount rate by 50 basis points to…

Whenever there is carnage, there are vultures. Nothing rings more true in the world of high finance. Not many of us can ignore the great meltdown in the credit market south of the border, which could put about 1.7 million American homeowners out on the street. Moreover, holding…

I have a feeling that last Thursday, as long-term investors braced for the weekend, speculators rushed to accumulate as many shorts as possible that same afternoon. Sure enough, things went well overnight, with sinking Asian markets calling for yet another disastrous trading day in North America, perhaps of…

For the first time in a long time, fear is overcoming greed in the stock market. The majority of analysts see the current decline in stock prices as a simple correction in an ongoing long-term bull market that has been rising since the tech boom in late 1999,…

U.S. home mortgage foreclosure filings in May jumped 90% from the same month last year. According to the National Association of Realtors, the median price of a U.S. home fell 1.8% in the first quarter of this year compared to the first quarter of 2006. The hardest-hit regions…

Yesterday, it was reported that U.K. inflation jumped 3.1% in March, cementing an interest rate increase for the Bank of England next month. This is bad news for Americans who were hoping the Fed would cut interest rates in the U.S. A country's interest rate and the value…

Stock markets today eerily resemble those of more than two decades ago, mostly because central banks controlled inflation with rising interest rates. The first bear year at the time was 1984, after a shift in interest rates sentiment sent the Dow Jones into a severe down-spiral. The irony…

All eyes will be on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke on August 8 when we find out if the Fed will raise interest rates again, making it eighteen Fed rate increases in a row. While the futures market is slightly tipped towards Bernanke going for another rate increase, many…

If you are looking for some positive cues from the market, forget it, they are not there at this time. The DWO gave up 396 points or close to 4% after recording three straight days of triple-digit declines to end last week.  Investors are extremely nervous as indicated…

Markets just passed the midway point of this year and it looks rocky at this time given all of the risk factors such as high oil prices, interest rates, inflation, the economy, and earnings.  The second quarter was not something to remember as markets corrected and whether a…

China just announced its trade surplus to the world widened to a record $14.5 U.S. billion in June because of soaring Chinese exports. China's trade surplus could come in for the year at $110- $120 U.S. billion this year, up from $102 U.S. billion in 2005. What does…

The head of the largest bond fund in the world, Pacific Investment Management Co., said on Friday that he believes the bear market in bonds is over. That’s Bill Gross’s way of saying interest rates won’t be going up any more. Gross was probably looking at the numbers…

In a recent speech to the Montreal Board of Trade, Governor of the Bank of Canada, David Dodge, said that Canadians should not panic upon hearing isolated and disconcerting pieces of economic data. He offered reassurances that our economy is plugging along just fine, primarily because seven consecutive…

It's a difficult market to be a new investor right now. On the one hand, corporate earnings are coming in great, showing excellent profitability growth at both large-cap and small-cap companies. On the other hand, there's the nagging worry about inflation and rising interest rates, and the reality…