Where fools (should) fear to tread

For many of us, one of the fac­tors which can have a huge influ­ence on our lives– and yet is totally mys­ti­fy­ing– is the direc­tion of inter­est rates. If con­sumers are in good finan­cial shape and want to bor­row, and if banks are flush with funds will­ing to lend– all big ifs these days– then changes in inter­est rates may be the final deter­min­ing fac­tor in bring­ing all par­ties together. But under­stand­ing and prop­erly pre­dict­ing the influ­ences that set inter­est rates may be nearly as dif­fi­cult as fig­ur­ing out the price of gaso­line from one day to the next.