Declining long-term interest rates, driven by expectations that the threat of higher inflation has disappeared, have made mortgages more affordable, giving a boost to the housing industry.
JPMorgan's earnings were buoyed, though, by an increase in mortgage lending, spurred, in part, by exceedingly low interest rates, driven even lower in recent weeks by the Federal Reserve's mortgage bond buying program.
Lowered interest rates driven in part by the shrinking of annual budget deficits, coupled with the flourishing of the information technology sector -- partly made possible by extra money no longer going to cover the government deficit that fueled high-investment expansion -- fostered a boom in asset prices.
Low interest rates, driven by the liquidity provided by the Federal Reserve, have resulted in increasing property values.
Earnings yields on equities still remain comfortably above the yield on 10-year Treasuries and should have the ability to absorb higher interest rates driven by economic recovery.
Thanks to the low interest rates driven by the Federal Reserve banks have faced a challenging environment on net interest margin, making additional lending one of the few paths to increased interest income.
Even without the issue of LIBOR manipulation, these deals have become a drag on public budgets and are backfiring thanks to the historically-low interest rates driven down in response to the financial crisis caused by the big banks.
For consumers, higher interest rates drive up prices on virtually everything they buy or consume.
Fears of higher interest rates drove the real estate market into a frenzy earlier this year, sending housing prices higher still.
Investors anticipating higher corporate profits and another cut in interest rates drove the three major stock market indexes higher last week.
