On Rates & Stock Market's Future

People have been obsessing about where interest rates are headed for some time. The federal funds rate has been near zero for almost seven years, representing very accommodative monetary policy on the part of the Federal Reserve. The Fed announced it probably would raise the federal funds rate this year, but that move was delayed by the country’s slow economic growth, the slowdown in the Chinese economy, the malaise in the world’s economy, low inflation and the volatility in the financial markets.