Personal Finance Advice and Commentary

The FOMC left the benchmark rate low and expanded the stimulus program known as QE3 — but tied its rate forecast to unemployment and inflation.

The FOMC will keep the federal funds rate at its current ultralow level and voted to expand the bond-buying program announced in September, known as QE3.

The Federal Reserve’s rate-setting committee will start its third large-scale asset purchase plan — which makes it officially QE3.

Operation Twist lowers borrowing costs, but more is needed to revive housing.

The introduction of new predators into an existing ecosystem wreaks havoc. That may be the case with today’s Treasury market. With the introduction of a mammoth bond buyer in the form of the Federal Reserve conducting Operation Twist, the natural habitat of the bond market has been altered. When there is a great demand for

Call it Fed fatigue. After three years of aggressive monetary easing and unprecedented action to prop up the financial system, the U.S. economy is beginning to show some scattered signs of improvement, and the Federal Reserve decided to take it easy, at least for this meeting. “Monetary policy has its limits, and the Fed may

Today the Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, came together for a quiet meeting, leaving the key federal funds rate unchanged at near-zero percent, as expected through mid-2013. The federal funds rate is the rate at which banks lend to each other. The FOMC’s statement reflected cautious optimism about the U.S. economy in the wake

CD rates may have a little bit further to fall than I predicted in last week’s blog post. On Tuesday, Market Rates Insight, a pricing consultant for banks, released a report projecting interest rate decreases this month on term deposits of 36, 48 and 60 months. According to the report, the five-year CD yield will

Mortgage rates have bounced back from their record lows last week. After the Fed announced plans last Wednesday to implement Operation Twist and buy $400 billion in long-term securities, many in the mortgage industry expected rates to fall. They tumbled. But the party was short-lived. The yields on 10-year Treasury notes and on Freddie Mac

Thinking about getting a mortgage? You had better get started quickly. Mortgage rates embarked on a downward spiral after the Fed announcement of Operation Twist.  They will  attract  refinancers like moths to a flame, mortgage experts say. “Homeowners have about a week before the next rush of refis begin,” says Dan Green, a loan officer