A number of officials from the central bank have already suggested that two rate rises are possible this year, and now economists and investors assessing the economic data are also leaning in favor of two hikes. The quid pro quo for rising interest rates is a strengthening US Dollar Index and if that does indeed happen then it would really hammer Wall Street equities – especially high-yielding dividend stocks.

This week the Bank of England cut its interest rate and introduced a package of measures designed to provide additional monetary stimulus. What does it imply for the gold market?

The idea is to create the mother or grandfather of all bubbles. When the masses decide to speculate there will be so much money flowing into the markets that all assets including gold will fly; some will soar to the moon, some to the sun and some possibly to the next galaxy.

Differences in U.S. state taxes result in residents paying considerably more or less than their neighbors in other states. Here is a ranking of the most & least burdensome tax rates by state and the District of Columbia.

The US Federal Reserve has been increasingly hinting that it would raise its policy rate at its next meeting, which is scheduled for December but their communications have been sloppy, erratic and contradictory. To get a sense of where the Fed might go a closer look at some of the key underlying economic forces, however, it is clear that there are 5 key reasons that the Fed is unlikely to raise rates anytime soon.

This article addresses what the mainstream press has been ignoring, and why the Fed is reluctant to raise interest rates.

The Federal Reserve lifts interest rates to slow economic growth and quell inflationary pressures. Currently, though, there's little evidence of inflationary pressures outside of financial asset prices, and economic growth is weak to say the least, so should we fear a Fed rate hike at this point? This article has the answer. Invest accordingly.

Anti-tax demagoguery in the U.S. has resulted in Americans paying almost four times as much as the citizens of other wealthy countries for things such as retirement security and health care on the private market – 10.6% of our economic output versus an average of just 2.7% among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member states. As the title of this article suggests low taxes in the U.S. come at a very high cost.

Sooner or later, the Federal Reserve will begin normalizing monetary policy, which means higher interest rates are coming, and this has investors rightfully worried because higher rates mean higher interest costs, which should be bad for profits and ultimately stocks. New research, however, suggests that a severe S&P reaction to such hikes is to be expected. Here's why.

Should the Fed raise interest rates at some point in the future, as is widely expected, such higher interest rates might bring far worse consequences than can be achieved by simply staying the course. While some small, even token, rate hike would be tolerable, a return to historical norms could reap consequences in the general economy far beyond the direct effect on the federal government’s fiscal status. The fact is that the federal government is ensnared in a debt and interest rate trap of its own making from which it will be difficult to extricate itself.