Treasury bonds

    Who’s Going To Pay the US National Debt?

    By: Francis Cianfrocca (Diary)  |  January 21st at 08:10 AM  | 

    As I write, the public debt (sometimes called the national debt) of the US stands at $6.3 trillion, roughly 40% of GDP. (You’ve heard many people say that the debt is actually about $10.6 trillion, but that’s fictional, as I explain below.) As we know, the question of who will pay off the debt is an interesting and urgent one. Especially now that, through a | Read More »

    Historic Days For The Federal Reserve, and the Implications for Fiscal Stimulus

    By: Francis Cianfrocca (Diary)  |  January 8th at 08:43 AM  | 

    Historic days lie ahead, and not because the occupant of the Oval Office will soon be of an atypical color. The United States, throughout its early history, has been the only major trading nation to carefully avoid extensive government involvement in economics and finance. We went for more than 100 years without even a central bank (meaning, an official lender of last resort). And when | Read More »

    Extraordinary Doings in the Bond Market

    By: Francis Cianfrocca (Diary)  |  November 20th at 07:11 PM  | 

    To go along with the piece I wrote earlier today (here), the bond market appears to have picked up on the theme of deflation. The 30-year US Treasury bond rocketed upward in price to more than 118 and a half by today’s market close, and much of the move came late in the day. This price corresponds to an interest-rate of 3.49% for the long | Read More »