How Interest Rates Keep Making People on Wall Street Look Like Fools

Will this be the year they get it right?

An Interest Rate Puzzle Making Fools of Wall Street

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If there’s one call that investors and economists almost always seem to get wrong, it’s the direction of long-term interest rates. For years economists have been predicting that rates would rise, yet rates have been on a downtrend for ages.

Over the years, a variety of reasons have been given for the forecasted rise. Inflation and the amount of government spending have often been cited. You also frequently hear that “rates have nowhere to go but up,” yet it turns out that yes, they can keep getting lower.