The Daily Economy

Americans have spent a lot of energy worrying about what might happen when the Federal Reserve Bank raised interest rates. They have worried that an increase could hurt economic growth, and could be a setback for investors. But a week after the increase, the effects have so far been pretty mild.

Although saving for the long-term future is important, you should also consider holding some share of your money in cash and similar short-term investments (sometimes called cash equivalents) such as CDs, money market funds, and short-term treasuries.

Throughout much of the later part of this year, our Bob Hughes has been saying the economy’s trajectory has been one of slow and steady growth. This morning, we have more evidence that this is the case.

As an organization that strives to promote financial literacy to all Americans, it helps to both understand what financial literacy is, and to understand the breadth of the challenge before us.

It appears to defy economic logic: Large numbers of American oil rigs have gone idle, and thousands of oil workers have lost their jobs. Nevertheless, the price of gas has stayed low. Even with far fewer working rigs, production remains only slightly off its peak, and inventories are at their highest point in recent memory.

Normally, raising interest rates is a form of a contractionary monetary policy, meaning that the central bank believes the economy is overheated or strong enough, so that higher rates are necessary to prevent future excessive inflation. But this is not the case today. Inflation has been stubbornly low in the past few years, which is…

The economy will enter the election of year of 2016 with good momentum, and there are a number of reasons to believe it will continue to improve, according to the new edition of Business Conditions Monthly, out today from the American Institute for Economic Research. There are also two main factors that could present obstacles…

When I started my first job with a 401(k) plan, I remember looking at the options and seeing these words in the fund names: Value and Growth. I had some investing experience, so I knew that I should diversify across asset classes. But it sure was tempting to pick those funds with the flashy names.…

I noted an interesting exercise in how new information, even in small doses, can change peoples’ behavior, during my recent visit to the Southern Economic Association annual meeting.

Even with a push toward fuel economy and cleaner vehicles, American consumers still turn toward bigger models when gas prices drop. That’s one conclusion from this year’s auto sales, which are on pace to break the all-time record set in 2000.