Author Archives: Lou Barnes

Positive outlook clouded by the threat of impeachment

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The Brexit deal, the trade negotiations with China and a new president of the European Central Bank are all good news. But the threat of impeachment is a wildcard. Continue reading →

Washington’s political drama obscures potential new rate drops

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The forecast for interest rates is still low, reinforced by new information from the Federal Reserve. Continue reading →

Rates head toward all-time lows

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The slowing global economy is not the fault of the central banks, and it’s beyond their repair. Global markets are slowing down for natural reasons, but we might be able to do something about the “unnatural” reasons: Predatory trade policies from the C… Continue reading →

Housing market too strong for more Fed cuts

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President Trump has tweeted that the “boneheads” at the Federal Reserve should lower interest rates to “zero” or “less,” but Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell took a more moderate approach. Continue reading →

Central banks scramble to ward off fears of a recession

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Every thought in President Trump’s tweets is mistaken, which markets and businesses understand. They also understand that these tweets have no effect on Fed decisions. However, the erroneous content is worrisome because he does directly control trade a… Continue reading →

How will a trade war impact the US?

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Central banks can see this coming, underway in several places. But they have another problem: very little room to cut rates, and desperately frightened of the “zero bound.” Thus a continuous argument worthy of Monty Python: Do we fire our limited ammun… Continue reading →

Fed conference draws harsh reaction from Trump and China

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After Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell’s long-awaited speech early Friday morning, which was calming to markets, President Trump and China unleashed their fury — one on Twitter, the other in the form of new tariffs on the U.S. Continue reading →

Yield curve inversion fears are overblown

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Yield curves predicting recessions did so historically and will again at the end of Fed overshoots. The Fed has done no such thing this time. Continue reading →