Germany's finance minister just accused the U.S. Federal Reserve of destabilizing the markets with its commentary.
His warning comes just two days before the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Shanghai, China.
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Federal Reserve System
Negative Interest Rates Mean Your Government Is Betraying You
Nearly 500 million people now live in countries with official negative-interest-rate policies, and the United States may be next.
Seven years of zero interest rates have already severely punished savers; negative interest rates will finish the job by confiscating their capital for the mere privilege of depositing it in a federally licensed banking institution.
The Best Investment When the Fed Turns to Negative Interest Rates
Negative interest rates used to be a thing of central banking fiction.
Now it looks like our Federal Reserve is considering negative interest rates, too.
At a testimony before Congress on Feb. 10, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said there was nothing to prevent the United States from adopting negative-interest-rate-policy (NIRP).
NIRP signals a lack of confidence in an economy to investors. When the Fed turns to negative interest rates, it will encourage investors to exit stocks and stockpile their cash.
How the Federal Reserve's "Nuclear Option" Is Threatening Our Economic Freedom
The soldiers of fortune at the U.S. Federal Reserve have devised an insidious plan to solidify their control over free markets and America.
This prescription envisions banks lending cheaply and consumers spending robustly, spurring economic growth and propping up beleaguered markets.
Federal Reserve's Plan "Won't End Well" for the Markets
At a meeting with Congress on Wednesday, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen reiterated the Fed's plan to raise interest rates in the months ahead.
But her words also showed a hint of doubt.
Yellen discussed several concerns about the economy that could make the Federal Reserve hesitate on the timing of rate hikes. She also reemphasized the Fed's willingness to experiment with controversial monetary policy tools, including negative interest rates.
This Is Your Best Investment When the Fed Turns to Negative Interest Rates
The U.S. stock market is tanking, but Japan's Nikkei 225 is soaring a little more than a week after the country's central bank announced a move to negative interest rates.
That's great for stocks, but it can absolutely demolish a country's long-term economic health. Naturally, the U.S. Federal Reserve is all for them, and it likely won't be long until NIRP comes to the United States.
So, here are the best investments for negative interest rates.
When Will the Next Fed Interest Rate Hike Happen?
The U.S. Federal Reserve kicked off its two-day policy meeting Tuesday, and investors are looking for any sign of the next Fed interest rate hike.
The overwhelming consensus now is that we won't see a Fed interest rate hike at the conclusion of the U.S. central bank's meeting on Wednesday.
But that doesn't mean we won't see another Fed rate hike sometime in 2016...
Is Another Fed Interest Rate Hike Coming in 2016?
The Fed interest rate hike in December was the first rate increase for the U.S. Federal Reserve in nearly a decade. But now the focus has shifted to whether another Fed interest rate hike is coming in 2016.
Projections from policymakers show they will continue to raise their target range by a full percentage point during 2016. That would leave rates at a range of 1.25% to 1.5%.
But not everyone predicts such a smooth series of rate hikes from the Fed...
When Will the Next Fed Interest Rate Hike Happen in 2016?
After the first Fed interest rate hike on Dec. 16 (Wednesday), investors are anxious to know when the next rate hike will be.
Wednesday's quarter-percentage point (0.25%) Fed interest rate hike was the first since June 2006. The Fed's vote to raise rates was unanimous, signaling its increased confidence in the U.S. economy.
Future rate hikes in 2016 will be based on these factors...
The Interest Rates That Really Count Already Moved - and It's a Disaster
Wall Street and the media breathlessly waited for Yellen & Co. to hike the fed funds target from 0% to 0.25% up to 0.25% to 0.50% – a move that's been telegraphed for months and largely already priced in to the ZIRP-addled markets.
The drama around this move was manufactured. You can't call those rates anything but accommodative.
But with so much focus on the fed funds rate, it's really not surprising that the media missed the fact that the really important rates have been on the move since July.
Meanwhile, "overnight money," money that the central bank loans overnight to banks (and which the Fed influences through open market operations), has barely budged.