Feb 18, 2020 - Economy

Central banks have cut interest rates 800 times since the Great Recession

Dion Rabouin

Illustration of a giant hand in a business suit holding a marionette bank — Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Mexico's central bank cut interest rates to 7% last week, marking the 800th interest rate cut by a central bank since the Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy in September 2008, Bank of America Global Research notes.

What's happening: The number of rate cuts from central banks have picked up steam since last year when the global economy's growth rate stumbled to its slowest since the financial crisis.

Why it matters: The recent rate cuts are fueling "twin bubbles" in investment grade corporate bonds and Big Tech stocks like Facebook, Amazon and Netflix, BofA analysts say.

Watch this space: Allocation to equities fell to 60.3% of private clients' portfolios, which is still slightly above the historical average but well below the March 2015 peak of 62.5%.

The analysts also pointed out that "clients are again selling equities (equivalent to 1.8% of [assets under management] annualized) & buying bonds (1.5%)."

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Central banks have cut interest rates 800 times since the Great Recession

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