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Negative interest rates, explained — and how they could turn the world of banking upside down
Bankrate.com ^ | March 20, 2020 | Sarah Foster

Posted on 03/21/2020 10:38:28 AM PDT by ConservativeMind

What are negative interest rates?

A negative interest rate is exactly how it sounds — it’s when an interest rate (or a yield) falls below 0 percent.

It seems counterintuitive. After all, how can a rate actually fall below zero, a number that’s literally meant to be a floor for traditional borrowing and lending activities?

Take Germany, for example. Its government bond yields are trading in the negative territory all the way out to 20 years. Bond yields are negative in France, Denmark and the Netherlands right now, and they were once sub-zero in Belgium.

The Riksbank of Sweden, the oldest central bank in the world, was among the first to implement what’s now known as a negative policy rate, when it announced in 2009 that it would charge banks to hold deposits. Technically, however, the central bank of Denmark in 2012 became the first to bring its key policy rate below zero.

Today, the European Central Bank’s (ECB) interest rate for deposits is minus 50 basis points, while the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) short-term interest rate target is minus 10 basis points.

“Negative rates have been one of the unconventional policy tools [used] since the global financial crisis,” says David Lebovitz, executive director and global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. “If you look at any traditional income textbook, there is no mention of negative interest rates. This has been an experiment over the course of the past decade, with the main players being people like the ECB and the central bank of Sweden.”

How negative rates work

If a yield on a savings account is negative, you’ll (theoretically) have to pay a bank to hold your cash. Think of it like a storage fee.

(Excerpt) Read more at bankrate.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: banking; bondmarket; covid19stockmarket; interestrates
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1 posted on 03/21/2020 10:38:28 AM PDT by ConservativeMind
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To: ConservativeMind

If a yield on a savings account is negative, you’ll (theoretically) have to pay a bank to hold your cash. Think of it like a storage fee...

Get a safe and a gun.


2 posted on 03/21/2020 10:41:24 AM PDT by dp0622 (Radicals, racists my curseoint fingers at me I'm a small town white boy Just tryin to make ends meet)
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To: ConservativeMind

Negative Stock Prices next.


3 posted on 03/21/2020 10:43:52 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: ConservativeMind

Negative interest will cause everyone to try to withdraw their money, and it ain’t there.


4 posted on 03/21/2020 10:44:35 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (If you don't recognize that as sarcasm you are dumber than a bag of hammers.)
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To: ConservativeMind
And yet the interest rate charged to customers remains high...
5 posted on 03/21/2020 10:46:03 AM PDT by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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To: ConservativeMind

The US is the where everyone’s money flies to when their countries are deemed “risky.” Yet, those countries are able to get all the investors they need to prop up their governments through “negative interest rates.”

If the US is more solid than any other country in the world, we should be able to have the deepest negative interest rate.


6 posted on 03/21/2020 10:46:28 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

No, it won’t, because negative interest rates are still a hedge to inflation.

Just not an excessive hedge.


7 posted on 03/21/2020 10:47:29 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: jeffc
And yet the interest rate charged to customers remains high...

Well they DO have to make some money!

8 posted on 03/21/2020 10:47:47 AM PDT by SamAdams76 (Trump (859); Slow Joe (527); Commie (476); Fake Indian (48); Drunken Weld (1))
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To: ConservativeMind

Gold and Silver back on the up-tick. It’s been a wild few weeks; glad I have a strong heart! :)

http://www.321gold.com/


9 posted on 03/21/2020 10:48:13 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: ConservativeMind

Negative interest rates wont work here as well. Its actually a tax. The government sells their bonds at a higher price than they give back. So why would people buy them. They would buy them because the laws in those countries force banks to buy government debt. So they do. Its a tax on the banks which is paid for by the people. All the European banks are unprofitable. If we want to destroy the banking system here, thats a sure way. But who is it helping? Government employees and government retirees keep their jobs and pensions while savers and 401K people pay for it. Its not a tax on the banks as much as its a tax on everyone who does not get a government check. And don’t think your poor little Social Security check counts. Its a small fraction of a government pension. This whole thing wipes out the private employees in favor of government employees and their unions.


10 posted on 03/21/2020 10:49:03 AM PDT by poinq
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To: ConservativeMind

I have been benefiting for years from negative interest rates. When I use my Discover card they give me a 30 day loan to buy anything I want including down payments on cars and furniture up to my limit. If I pay back the loan in that time they give me 1-3% cash back depending on the promotions they are running.

From a consumer’s perspective I don’t see a problem.


11 posted on 03/21/2020 10:50:05 AM PDT by Dave Wright
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To: poinq

If inflation is 2%, it still pays to have a bond at -1.75%.

This is not a hidden tax.


12 posted on 03/21/2020 10:51:18 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: ConservativeMind

I’m still waiting for bank fees to come done after they introduced ATMs and stopped returning checks.


13 posted on 03/21/2020 10:52:52 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
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To: ConservativeMind
"If inflation is -2%..."
14 posted on 03/21/2020 10:54:23 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: ConservativeMind

Maybe I missed it during my quick scan of the article. But I did read somewhere that these European negative interest rates are being applied to huge accounts only. They are not being applied to small personal accounts (yet).


15 posted on 03/21/2020 10:54:25 AM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: Paladin2

You call your bonds and reissue them.


16 posted on 03/21/2020 10:56:15 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: ConservativeMind

>>Yet, those countries are able to get all the investors they need to prop up their governments through “negative interest rates.”

That’s because those countries banned cash first, so there’s no way for the investors to actually withdraw their money to get the higher zero interest rate of cash.


17 posted on 03/21/2020 10:56:18 AM PDT by vikingd00d (chown -R us ~you/base)
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To: dp0622

Negative interest rates are also the result of massive government deficits and the accumulated debt that accompanies those annual deficits. I am old enough to remember a 3% interest rate on a savings account and with little or no inflation-a real return and REWARD for savings.


18 posted on 03/21/2020 11:03:50 AM PDT by Maine Mariner
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To: Paladin2

Good point. The real rate of interest, r = i + inflation rate when i is the nominal or stated interest rate you receive. So if i = 0 and the inflation rate is -2% (deflation actually), the real rate of return is +2% not counting taxes on the interest income.


19 posted on 03/21/2020 11:06:19 AM PDT by Maine Mariner
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To: ConservativeMind

Is there a bank out there that will lend me a billion dollars at -1% interest (with no fees)? I did some quick budget calculations and I think if I watch expenses that I could get by on $10,000,000 per year.


20 posted on 03/21/2020 11:06:44 AM PDT by CommerceComet (Hillary: A unique blend of arrogance, incompetence, and corruption.)
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