Moody's Investors Service has
lowered its bond rating for Michigan State University, meaning the university will no longer get the best interest...
Searching for any little thing to get your mind off of The AIRPORT Deal, The PLAYLAND Deal, The BORROWING, The DEBT, The,
LOWER BOND RATING, The INVESTIGATION, The GUN SHOW, The LOST $ $ $ FROM HUD.
Rockland County currently has
the lowest bond rating in the entire state of New York and Ramapo has the lowest rating in the county.
The Republicans in the state Senate held the budget hostage for 106 days, costing the state economy billions of dollars in
a lower bond rating and lack of confidence.
Dividend equities have become the in - vogue investment over the last few years as a result of historically
low bond rates.
Companies and governments with
lower bond ratings must pay higher interest rates on the debt they issue, in order to get people to buy their bonds.
Not exact matches
The new
bonds would capitalize on the province's ability to raise funds at
low interest
rates, said Finance Minister Charles Sousa.
That data raised a fresh round of questions about how the Federal Reserve will proceed on further cutting back on its massive monthly
bond purchases, which have kept long - term
rates low and encouraged a strong rally on equity markets.
Although last year was favorable for developing countries, investors remember the painful «taper tantrum» that ensued several years ago, when the Fed signaled it would begin pulling back on its massive
bond purchases that kept
rates low while injecting liquidity in markets.
The
bond purchases, the third round of quantitative easing embarked upon by the Fed in the wake of the 2008 financial collapse and subsequent recession, have kept interest
rates and
bond yields
low.
Ultimately these green
bonds will only truly be successful if they allow the province to finance transit projects at a
lower interest
rate than would otherwise be the case.
For one thing, those 10 - year Canada
bonds are yielding just 1.14 % and could lose value should interest
rates rebound from their recent
lows, as many market - watchers expect.
In a client note on Thursday titled «Yanking down the yields,» the interest -
rates strategist projected that
bond yields would be much
lower than the markets expected because central banks including the Federal Reserve were reluctant to raise interest
rates.
Plus, in non-registered accounts, those dividends are taxed at a
lower rate than
bond interest.
For the past seven years,
low rates have made
bonds relatively unattractive, and the stock market comparatively more attractive.
While investors will have to find stocks with higher yields, pay more for them and take on more risk in
bonds, the biggest change in a permanently
low -
rate world is that people will need to set aside more of every paycheque if they want to keep the same goal for retirement income.
The
low interest
rates that the Federal Reserve relied on to kick - start the economy, meanwhile, fed this same dynamic, making it easier for fast - growing companies to borrow money to grow further — and making
bond interest look unattractive compared with stock dividends.
Buying
bonds on an unlimited basis while indicating that
rates will be kept
low for years requires some «splaining.
But, «the U.S. and the Bank of England have gone to more extremes because they have interest
rates below the Bank of Canada's, and they've also been buying
bonds to
lower longer term interest
rates,» Shenfeld added.
Still, combine the indications of the short - term
bond market with today's 5 % GDP news and you get the sense that stock traders betting on
low interest
rates for longer periods of time may soon have to bail out.
The Fed's
low interest
rate policy has driven more and more money into
bond funds as investors search for higher yields.
The conservative investments, such as government
bonds, favoured by baby boomers and retirees are producing virtually nothing, as today's
low rates demolish returns.
It's similar to the U.S. government's quantitative easing, but rather than trying to buy government
bonds to push interest
rates lower —
rates are already at zero — the goal is to push the yen down and combat chronic deflation.
The
bond buy - backs are a component of the Fed's quantitative easing program, whose goal is to inject liquidity into markets and keep interest
rates low.
Bond yields were a little
lower, reflecting the divergent paths for benchmark interest
rates in the U.S. and Canada.
Those figures come in an atmosphere of
low interest
rates, which depress
bond yields, and a relatively flat S&P 500 over the 12 months ending June.
While Fink is right to point out that
low interest
rates are putting a large burden on those of us trying to save retirement, he does not address the fact that central banks aren't primarily responsible for the fact that
bonds of all types are yielding less today than we're used to.
Meanwhile, the survey summary attributed the
low showing for
bonds to a «wide agreement among advisors that interest -
rate risk is exceptionally high right now.»
So, putting the two together, we want to own short - term high - coupon
bonds when
rates are rising, and
low - coupon long - term
bonds when
rates are trending down.
This makes sense;
lower growth should result in
bond yields falling, anticipating
lower Bank of Canada
rates in the future and less need for a risk premium around inflation.
Also, Ablin added a large portion of the recent rally involved a rotation from
bonds into stocks as
low interest
rates forced investors to seek yield in the stock market.
RATES STILL LOW: Even as concerns about rising bond yields and interest rates spook some investors, bulls are quick to mention that rates are rising off extremely low le
RATES STILL
LOW: Even as concerns about rising bond yields and interest rates spook some investors, bulls are quick to mention that rates are rising off extremely low leve
LOW: Even as concerns about rising
bond yields and interest
rates spook some investors, bulls are quick to mention that rates are rising off extremely low le
rates spook some investors, bulls are quick to mention that
rates are rising off extremely low le
rates are rising off extremely
low leve
low levels.
Interest
rates are at historic
lows, and a sharp spike in
rates could drop the value of solar
bonds.
Particularly during the period of extraordinary policy accommodation —
low interest
rates and $ 3.7 trillion of
bond buying — the Fed sometimes has struggled to communicate its intentions.
With interest
rates so
low, stocks are better than
bonds, but the Canadian market, he says, should see mid-single-digit returns.
And corporations have spent the last decade issuing longer - term
bonds to take advantage of
low interest
rates.
While U.S. savings
bonds have lost popularity as a means of long - term savings due to the
low interest
rates they currently earn, some retirees have been holding on to
bonds that were issued when
rates were higher.
To oversimplify a bit, stocks are tax - efficient (because they're taxed at the
lower capital gains and dividend
rate and taxes are deferred until you sell) and
bonds are not (they're taxed much like a savings account).
Trump's plans to increase fiscal spending has boosted
bond yields — a change that would support higher revenue for banks currently languishing in a
low - interest
rate environment.
Also last week, the credit -
ratings agency Standard & Poor downgraded its
bonds to the
lowest level still considered investment grade, according to CNN Money.
«On the
bond side, we've been in a sustained
low -
rate environment,» she said.
«These people owning these
bonds are being stuck with the relatively
low and riskier interest
rates for a very long time.
Rates on government
bonds in Germany and Switzerland fell further into negative territory after Brexit, while yields on 10 - year Treasuries dropped below 1.5 % and touched record
lows.
Under that policy, the Federal Reserve has kept interest
rates low and engaged for period of years in a campaign of aggressive
bond purchases that have increased monetary supply and bolstered the stock market.
Once again, with the economy improving and the Fed looking closer to raising interest
rates, high yields and
lower bond prices seem to be the obvious bet.
Yet while the Fed has eased policy to
lower joblessness and raise inflation in the wake of the 2007 - 2009 recession, central banks such as the BoE have also launched accommodative
bond - buying programs despite higher - than - desired inflation
rates.
And more stimulus from the European Central Bank — which is helping U.K.
bonds even though Britain is outside the European Union — should keep
rates low and
bond prices high across Europe for a while.
Interest
rates on ultra-safe investments like Treasury
bonds have been hovering near record
lows since the Great Recession.
The Fed had
lowered interest
rates down to zero in terms of short - term
rates and that pushed
bond yields down.
Betterment recommends its clients put their emergency funds in a portfolio with between 30 percent and 40 percent in stocks and the rest in a diversified allocation of
bonds because interest
rates are so
low, Holeman said.