Posted on 01/15/2015 6:38:42 PM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
Investors are so nervous that they are basically willing to lose money when they buy some government bonds. It's part of the latest fad in finance that's all the rage: "going negative." The yields on government bonds in Europe and Japan have dipped into the uncharted waters of negative territory. That means buyers of those bonds are essentially taking a loss just to hold onto those assets. They think their money is better off losing a few cents than putting it elsewhere. "It's basically a fee for fear," said Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx. "Fear of deflation, fear of volatility in other capital markets and general fear of the known."
Below zero: Just look at Switzerland, where the yield on bonds fell further into negative territory this week after the country's central bank dropped a bombshell on investors by scrapping a currency cap. In addition to allowing the Swiss franc to trade freely against the euro, the Swiss National Bank lowered a key interest rate further into negative territory, from -0.25% to -0.75%. That's like a bank charging customers to park their money there instead of paying them interest. Switzerland isn't alone in going negative. The yield on short-term government bonds of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands are all sub-zero. Even short duration U.S. bond rates are barely above zero.
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So when can I get a negative interest rate on a mortgage?
Government employee retirement plans should be forced to buy government bonds. That would place them in a position of eating their own dog food.
so maybe the fed should stop “printing” so much fake currency?
If the financial world collapses will North Koreans even notice?
“This is solid evidence that the very wealthy in the know realize the house of cards is about to fall.”
HAVE NO FEAR...
The Plunge Protection Team will spend however much of your great-grandchild’s inheritance to insure that the Democrat-connected Billionaires and Oligarch’s are not affected by this.
I mean, it could effect the status of their invite to Tina Brown’s next Manhattan party, and that just cannot be allowed.
In a deflationary spiral the last thing you want to have is a mortgage.
Well then, Sharpton is right.
We need a black Bond.
So housing will crash too. I will be able to by a one time million dollar mansion for 100K?
Please explain.
Maybe. But you won’t be earning enough money to afford the home when it costs $100,000 anyway.
This is Hu!
I walk away from my mortgage and pay cash for a new house(providing I have cash).
In a deflationary cycle the values of assets and the prices of many things will decline. So I could end up in a position a couple of years from now where my home has lost 20% of its value, my income has declined from $5,000 to $4,000 per month, and I still have to pay $1,200 per month on my mortgage.
That's why it's always better to have a mortgage in an inflationary cycle. You're in a good position if the payment on your mortgage is fixed, but your income and the value of the asset increase over time.
You can't. But you can have a severely depreciating house.
Exactly. That's why you're better off sitting on your cash instead of making mortgage payments in a deflationary cycle.
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