Some Elements of a Progressive International Trade Policy
There are other ways to organize U.S. international trade. The neoliberal free trade of recent decades and the trade restrictions of Trumpian tariffs are not the only options.
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Financial Times:
Interest rate on US T-bills turns negative
Published: December 9 2008 23:27 | Last updated: December 9 2008 23:27
Nervous investors on Tuesday paid for the privilege of owning US government debt, pushing interest rates on three-month Treasury bills to negative levels for the first time in postwar history.
The implied yield for three-month bills briefly traded at negative 0.01 per cent--the first time that has happened since 1940, traders said. At such a level, an investor is essentially paying someone to own the security.
The flight to safety helped the Treasury sell $30bn in four-week bills at a discount rate of zero per cent for the first time. That auction followed the sale of $27bn in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.005 per cent on Monday.
Ted Wieseman, economist at Morgan Stanley, said: "Demand for cash remained extreme" and described the result of the four-week sale as "absurd".
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