The Fed and Interest Rates

Dave Pettit of The Wall Street Journal writes a daily column that
appears inside the first page of the journal's Money & Investment
section. If the headlines of Mr. Pettit's daily column are any accurate record of economic concerns and current issues in the business world, the late weeks of March and the early weeks of April in 1994 were intensely concerned with interest rates. To quote, 'Industrials Edge Up 4.32 Points Amid Caution on Interest Rates,' and 'Industrials Track On 13.53 Points Despite Interest-Rate Concerns.' Why such a concern with interest rates? A week before, in the last week of March, the Fed had pushed up the short-term rates. This being the first increase in almost five years, it caused quite a stir.
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