Archive for Between the Lines
The Fed’s Most Difficult Decision
Gary D. Halbert Between the Lines The Fed has a very tough decision to make at the upcoming March 15-16 policy meeting. I would argue that the choice between raising the Fed Funds rate yet again versus leaving the rate unchanged will be the toughest decision the Fed has had…
Hillary Suggests President Obama For Supreme Court
Gary D. Halbert Between the Lines This week has been dominated by discussions about who should replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court and who should control the nominating process. Republicans made a mistake, in my opinion, by coming out early and demanding that President Obama should defer the…
The Serious Implications of Negative Interest Rates
Gary D. Halbert Between the Lines Imagine a bank that pays negative interest rates where depositors are actually charged to keep their money in an account. Crazy as it sounds, several of Europe’s central banks have cut key benchmark interest rates below zero and kept them there for more than…
Stock Market Corrections – Some Facts To Keep In Mind
Gary D. Halbert Between the Lines What defines a stock market “correction” versus a “bear market” these days? Generally speaking, a downward correction is defined as a decline of 10% – 20%, and a drop of more than 20% indicates a bear market. Not everyone agrees, of course, and then…
China, Market Rout May Delay Fed’s 2016 Rate Hikes
Gary D. Halbert Between the Lines I figured I would be writing about President Obama’s State of the Union speech today, but for the first time since he became president, I did not watch the speech on Tuesday night. So I can’t comment, other than to say that the reviews…
Stocks Off To A Very Rocky Start In The New Year
Gary D. Halbert Between the Lines Stocks are off to a frightening start in 2016, with the US major indexes plunging as much as 3% during the opening session on Monday alone and even more in some overseas markets. The Dow briefly fell over 400 points to below 17,000 on…