Losing interest

QAre interest rates heading lower soon?

ANo one knows for sure, but it certainly looks like it. The Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets at least eight times a year and decides on any changes to America's short-term monetary policy, most notably raising or lowering interest rates.

The most recent meeting was in March; the FOMC decided to leave interest rates unchanged, primarily because inflation, while down from recent levels, has not gotten close enough to the goal of 2% annually. Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), was recently 3.2% — a little more than the average inflation rate over the past century, though the rate has sometimes been much higher or lower.

Assuming inflation keeps inching down, many expect the FOMC to enact several interest rate reductions this year. Those might begin as early as June, with a target federal funds rate between 4.5% and 4.75% by the end of the year, down from the current 5.25% to 5.5%. (The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which U.S. banks make overnight loans to each other.)

QHow do tax inversions work?

good to learn them early — and to lose only 20%.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has warned: “Typically run as outbound call centers, boiler rooms are characterized by high-pressure sales pitches from promoters targeting retail investors with highly speculative — oftentimes fraudulent — investments. And this goes beyond phone calls; today's boiler rooms also rely on more modern means to contact potential investors, such as messaging apps and social media.” Yikes!

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