22 Dec Fixed Income Perspectives – “The Fed Awakens”
Voya Investment Management – Fixed Income Perspectives – December 2015
Not that long ago on a continent not too far away, a central banker’s dovish actions disappointed the capital markets. Investors in November anticipated an expansion of asset purchases from the European Central Bank but got only a small rate cut and an extension of the current quantitative easing effort. In truth, most economic activity and inflation indicators suggest that the euro zone economy has been improving, and the necessity of further easing was questionable. Meanwhile in the United States, the Federal Reserve maintained a zero interest rate policy for 2,556 days in an attempt to convince investors to move out of the safest of fixed income investments and into more risky assets.