Financial Markets | Econofact

Is the Rise in U.S. Corporate Debt Cause for Concern?

By Daniel Bergstresser·September 8, 2019
Brandeis University

The Issue:

Corporate debt has been growing at a rapid pace since the recovery from the Great Recession, and the total value of nonfinancial corporate debt in the United States now stands at or near all-time highs. This has been the source of some concern since excessive debt can lead companies to face financial

What Problems (If Any) Arise From Stock Buybacks?

By Daniel Bergstresser·April 29, 2019
Brandeis University

The Issue:

Stock buybacks by the firms included in the S&P 500 index have increased recently, rising from an average of about $135 billion per quarter over the previous three years to over $200 billion per quarter: $800 billion in the first eleven months of 2018 with announced buybacks bringing the figure to

What Information Does the Yield Curve Yield? (UPDATED)

By Michael Klein·December 6, 2018
Fletcher School, Tufts University

The Issue:

Forecasting the twists and turns of the economy is difficult. One set of indicators used to gauge where the economy is headed draws on information from financial markets since the yields paid by financial assets reflect the collective market view of the future state of the economy. An inverted yield ...
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What Does the Stock Market Tell us About Politics?

By Raymond Fisman and Eric Zitzewitz·May 14, 2018
Boston University and Dartmouth College

The Issue:

Politicians often take credit for a rise in the stock market, which is viewed as an indicator of a robust economy. But politics has a much more limited effect on the overall economy than on particular industries, or even particular companies, whose fortunes rise or fall with changes in tax, trade or ...
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Putting the Recent Swings in Stock Market Indexes into Context

By Daniel Bergstresser·February 8, 2018
Brandeis University

The Issue:

The volatility in the stock market in the first week of February 2018 stands in stark contrast to unusually low volatility throughout 2017. The past year was the first one ever that the Standard and Poor’s 500-stock index did not experience any decline greater than 3 percent. The past week, however, ...
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