Spanish and Italian government bond yields are not directly comparable to those of U.S. Treasuries because the bonds are paid in different currencies.

Since November 2008, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has been using bond purchases to reduce long-term interest rates to support housing markets, employment, and real activity. The FOMC has varied these large-scale asset purchases—commonly called quantitative easing (QE)—with the...

Although we can’t be certain of the size of the effect, the ECB’s recent experience suggests that eliminating interest paid on reserves held with the Federal Reserve would not substantially increase bank lending and money growth.

Markets have come to believe that the Bank of Japan can and will raise Japan’s inflation rate to meet its new target.

The hump in the Greek yield curve exists because the calculated yields assume that the bonds will pay off at their full value but market prices incorporate expectations that the payoff will be much lower.>

U.S. output growth declined less than in most other industrialized countries while U.S. unemployment rose higher and faster than it did in most other major industrialized countries.

In response to volatile market conditions, the G-7 financial authorities announced late on March 17 that they would jointly intervene the next day to reduce the value of the yen, citing concerns about “excess volatility and disorderly movements.” The yen immediately depreciated and traded...

Large-scale asset purchases may have limited power to raise TIPS-implied inflation expectations—something that might appeal to policymakers fighting deflation.

The severe contractions and deflationary episodes that followed 19th century U.S. banking crises have shaped the U.S. perception of deflation.

But because this [Chinese] exchange rate policy is externally focused and relies heavily on regulations, which restrain normal market forces, it is reasonable to say that the policy constitutes currency manipulation for purposes of gaining an advantage in trade.