Myriad developments indicate that a revisit is overdue to core beliefs on the part of central banks, politicians and companies alike. Unease appears in the breakdown of the latest FOMC voting, in the belabored central bank comments in Europe as well as in contradictions between the Bank of Japan

Saudi Arabia and Iran may yet come to terms on some sort of production arrangement, but the outcome of the negotiations in Algeria this week may not do much to rescue oil prices. Following the media spectacle, the oil markets may have to shift their attention back to the supply and demand

The late-2014, Saudi-initiated oil-price war may have taken the 'boom' out of the US shale industry as it seriously threatened OPEC market share, but Saudi victory has been elusive: US shale has proven amazingly resilient. The industry has adapted quickly to the new playing field, and the

With eight years of rising debt worldwide amid political stress from wars to elections, discussion about relief has increased sharply. Still, central bankers have in effect engaged on redistribution from savers. We see an excess of reliance on theory as conflicting with the rough and tumble of

I recently posted an article on the unintended consequences that central bank actions have had on the global bond market.  According to a recent poll by the CFA Institute, 30 percent of all respondents believed that all of the fixed-income markets are experiencing an asset bubble with an

Oilfield services, shipbuilders and other industries that rose with the pre-2014 oil price boom have had it hard. Since barrel rates fell, their previous patrons have become uninterested in doling out major purchase orders, leaving oil and gas equipment manufacturers without revenues.

A recent report

In this multipart series, I will take a look at the unintended consequences of the ultra-long period of near-zero or negative interest rates.  In part one, I'll look at the impact of central banks on the bond market and how that will impact investors.