Opening Statement from the March 2017 Dividend Gems

Opening Statement from the March 2017 Dividend Gems

Originally published on March 19, 2017

Update on Interest Rates

On Wednesday, March 15, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points, as we had previously forecast (this forecast came after the February 2017 issue of Dividend Gems had been released). This marks only the third interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in nearly a decade.

As we have continued to stress, interest rates are an extremely important consideration for asset allocation. Continuous reassessment of interest rate forecasts is an especially important responsibility of investors who focus on dividend-bearing and fixed income securities.

Over the past several years we have been providing a multiyear interest rate forecast in order to aid investors with asset allocation and risk management duties. Throughout this period we continued to forecast