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Bill Dudley, Former Head of the NY Fed, Makes A Compelling Case for Not Raising FDIC Insurance, Proposes Alternative Image Copyright: BestCashCow

Bill Dudley, Former Head of the NY Fed, Makes A Compelling Case for Not Raising FDIC Insurance, Proposes Alternative

In this Bloomberg piece, published today, Bill Dudley makes a compelling case against raising the FDIC insurance limit from the current $250,000 per account (learn more about FDIC coverage here). First, Dudley recognizes the importance... Read →
With Climate at a Tipping Point, Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan and Chase’s Jamie Dimon Need To Take Bold Action Image Copyright: BestCashCow

With Climate at a Tipping Point, Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan and Chase’s Jamie Dimon Need To Take Bold Action

A couple of months ago, I spent the day at a climate change conference at Columbia Business School, my alma mater. Columbia has more than a couple dozen professors, backed by scores of data scientists and McKinsey-type advisors using the... Read →
Andaz Peninsula Papagayo and JW Marriott Guanacaste Are Both Fantastic Hotel Redemption Values Image Copyright: BestCashCow

Andaz Peninsula Papagayo and JW Marriott Guanacaste Are Both Fantastic Hotel Redemption Values

I had the pleasure of staying at both the Andaz and the JW Marriott resorts in Guanacaste during my visit last week to Costa Rica. For those seeking a great resort to get away from it all using hotel points, these are both great... Read →
Federal Reserve Ends June 2023 Meeting With a Pause At 5 to 5.25%; Likely to Continue Raising Image Copyright: BestCashCow

Federal Reserve Ends June 2023 Meeting With a Pause At 5 to 5.25%; Likely to Continue Raising

Today's FOMC statement says that the Fed is holding its target Fed Funds rate at 5% to 5.25%. The decision was unanimous among voting members. While today's action marks the first Federal Reserve meeting in this cycle to end... Read →
Two Major Risks to Federal Government Debt Levels Post-Debt Ceiling Settlement Image Copyright: BestCashCow

Two Major Risks to Federal Government Debt Levels Post-Debt Ceiling Settlement

The national debt is poised to move into completely unchartered territory. Assuming the US remains one contiguous country, we are going to move from $31 trillion in outstanding US liabilities to somewhere in the $35-$36 trillion range over... Read →

A Difficult Couple of Days in NYC, But Still No Urgency to Invest in Wind and Solar

It has been a difficult few days in New York as the air quality has been the worst in the world for most of the last 48 hours due to the wildfires in Quebec. The City of course has seen tougher days, much tougher. It has also... Read →
Eight Megacap Stocks are Driving the Entire Stock Market Higher this Year Image Copyright: BestCashCow

Eight Megacap Stocks are Driving the Entire Stock Market Higher this Year

What does it mean when the entire US stock market is being driven only by Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Netflix and Tesla?

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How to Handle Higher Mortgage Rates Image Copyright: BestCashCow

How to Handle Higher Mortgage Rates

The last year has seen much higher short-term interest rates as the Federal Reserve acted decisively to address inflation. Mortgage rates - like other lending rates, such as a home equity line of credit or a credit card rate - are not... Read →
David Faber’s Interview With Elon Musk Is Interesting, But Uncomfortable and Sad Image Copyright: CNBC

David Faber’s Interview With Elon Musk Is Interesting, But Uncomfortable and Sad

David Faber’s interview with Elon Musk was interesting. Musk is obviously a genius, in spite of what all of his detractors say. In the course of the interview, he provided tremendous insight into the operations of Tesla and... Read →
Louisiana Senator John Neely Kennedy Is Spot-On About Silicon Valley Bank Image Copyright: Senator Kennedy

Louisiana Senator John Neely Kennedy Is Spot-On About Silicon Valley Bank

I don’t agree with Senator Kennedy much. Almost everything that he has said publicly since Trump emerged has been absurdly and blindly naive. His positions on the major social issues of our time indicate he wants to wage war on the... Read →
1-Year CDs Offer Superior Returns to 1-Year US Treasuries for Everyone Image Copyright: BestCashCow

1-Year CDs Offer Superior Returns to 1-Year US Treasuries for Everyone

1-Year Certificate of Deposit offerings remain quite strong. As of the date of this article, there are at least 8 online 1-year CDs being offered at 5.15% or higher. Depending on where you live, you will probably also find 1-year CDs... Read →
Jamie Dimon Is Correct – It Is Time to Ban the Short-Selling Of Banks Image Copyright: CNN

Jamie Dimon Is Correct – It Is Time to Ban the Short-Selling Of Banks

Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan Chase’s CEO and Tufts alumnus, appearing this morning on Bloomberg from Paris said that the largest regional banks with which he speaks are all in good financial shape. They, however, are exposed to the sudden... Read →
The Federal Reserve’s 10th Hike in the 2022-2023 Cycle: Fed Funds Target is Now 5.00% to 5.25% Image Copyright: BestCashCow

The Federal Reserve’s 10th Hike in the 2022-2023 Cycle: Fed Funds Target is Now 5.00% to 5.25%

The Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark Fed Funds target to a 5.00% to 5.25% target at its May meeting that concluded today. Today’s move marks the Fed’s 10th hike since the beginning of 2022 at a 0 to 0.25% target, as the... Read →
Federal Reserve Moves Fed Funds Rate to 4.75% to 5.00% for Its 9th Hike Image Copyright: BestCashCow

Federal Reserve Moves Fed Funds Rate to 4.75% to 5.00% for Its 9th Hike

The Federal Reserve acted today to increase the Fed Funds rate to a target of 4.75% to 5.00%, and said that additional policy firming may be appropriate. Many observers wanted the Fed to suspend raising rates, in light of the collapse... Read →
Buying Brokered CDs from Banks on the Brink Seems Like a Bad Strategy Image Copyright: BestCashCow

Buying Brokered CDs from Banks on the Brink Seems Like a Bad Strategy

Those owning full-service brokerage accounts at institutions like Morgan Stanley have probably received calls this week from their brokers. In addition to calming you down about the crisis around the banks, many of these brokers’... Read →