No, that’s really not the direction things are going. The next move is a rate increase, probably at the December meeting. There were abstract discussions in Jackson Hole about what the Fed might do if they were to be confronted with a fresh downturn, what tools are in the kit to deal with that, and consideration of negative rates was mentioned in that context, but not as a current policy discussion.
The Fed is not going to raise rates early to please Donald Trump or prove him wrong. There’s about a 25% chance now that they do go in September, but if so, it will be about the economy reaching full employment not about DT.
Thanks for the response. I appreciate it.
I only go by the scuttle-butt I run into here and other places, so I was thinking a rate reduction might be coming along.
I don’t want to see negative rates.
I’m not convinced these rates close to zero are a good idea either.
Individuals need to be able to realize some interest on their funds. It’s absurd for banks to get 14 to 29% on what you owe them, and pay out zero on what you loan them.