Finance  /  March 12, 2020

By Tom Burnett, CFA In a March 10, 2020, Wall Street Journal Opinion letter, former Federal Reserve member and current Princeton University professor Alan S. Blinder indicated that he is ‘90% sure’ that the U. S. economy will enter a recession (defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP…

Read More
Finance  /  March 10, 2020

By Tom Burnett, CFA On March 9, 2020, the global stock markets sold off sharply. Several factors accounted for the sell off, but the two primary culprits were the Corona Virus scare (which will limit travel related business and create supply chain disruptions) and the OPEC-Russia crude oil pricing conflict…

Read More
Finance  /  March 6, 2020

By Tom Burnett CFA On March 6, 2020, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the employment data for the month of February. The growth in jobs was an unexpected 273,000, well above consensus estimates. In addition, the jobs numbers for December and January were revised upwards by a total of 85,000. The…

Read More
Finance  /  March 4, 2020

By Tom Burnett CFA With U.S. Treasury interest rates at record low levels, the Treasury should be planning to issue a large offering of long-term bonds whose low coupon would lock in the low interest payments over a 20- or 30-year period, depending on the bonds issued. The 30-year yield is trading in…

Read More
Finance  /  March 3, 2020

By Tom Burnett CFA On March 3, 2020, the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee decided unanimously to lower the Fed Funds range to 1-1.25%, down 50 basis points from the previous level. The Fed’s press release indicated that it is ‘closely monitoring’ the economic impact of the coronavirus…

Read More