Mr. Gerken holds an AB from Brown University and an MBA from Harvard University. During January 2001 the Federal Reserve Board aggressively lowered interest rates. It appears that the central bank has begun a series of interest rate declines designed to thwart an economic slowdown. To gauge the potential impact on stock investors, we looked at stock performance over the last fifty years after every two successive Fed eases. As shown below, generally, such interest rate reductions have been bullish for stocks.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
The chart is for illustrative purposes only. Index is a market value weighted index comprised of 500 widely held common stocks. This index is unmanaged and not available for direct investment. The performance of this index is not indicative of the performance of any specific mutual fund. Bloomberg, Federal Reserve Board, Smith Barney Asset Management.